A Change of Fate
by DX1998
Summary: While fleeing from the Ori after the death of their alllies, the Odyssey is near destruction. In a desperate bid for surviaval, a future version of Samantha Carter develops a plan to use the power of the Ori beam to save the ship. But it goes horribly wrong...now the cruiser is in a new reality, and a new war. Can they help their cousins in the UNSC? Or will the Covenant prevail?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Yes, I know I have two other fics that need updating :P**

**But this idea bit me hard, and I just had to write it. This is my take on the (somewhat cliche by now) '_Odyssey_ gets thrown into different universe while running from Ori' idea. In this case, it is Halo. I did my best to make this interesting, and (in later chapters) keep things balanced. I hope you all enjoy the work I put into this, and leave a review on the way out! :D**

* * *

**USS **_**Odyssey**_

**May 13****th**** 2007 (outside time-dilation field, 2057 inside)**

* * *

A deep silence echoed through the halls of the USS _Odyssey_. Instead of the normal bustle of a ship and its crew, nothing at all made a noise. There was a small humming noise from the machinery, but that was the extent of things. And even that was quieter than it should have been, as the vessel was slowly shutting down as it aged, and its systems ran out of power.

If one walked through the halls, they would see small signs of rust, and other hints of the vessels age. If they continued further, they would start to hear soft voices coming from a side room. Inside the room, were the only people aboard the _Odyssey_. Looking at the group, it was readily apparent that the years had not been kind to them either.

There were two women sitting at the table, both with long graying hair. One of them was looking at a man standing next to the window, his hair somewhat long too. The other was eating some food across from another old man, with hair nearly as long as her own. The only person in the room who was not showing his age was a tall, well muscled man with only a single streak of gray hair.

The group appeared to be in the middle of an argument, though why wasn't readily apparent.

"One of us has to stay like this? No offense, but I could do without the arthritis," the man next to the window said.

"It has to be that way Cam. One of us needs to remember what happened, or we'll be in the same situation…the time reversal will erase any memories of these years," one of the women said.

"Well it certainly can't be you then Sam," the man, Cam Mitchell, said.

"I agree with Cam," the other old man said, "We need your mind too much to let you stay this age Sam."

Sam Carter turned to the man, "Daniel, the same goes for you. You know more about the Ancients and the Asgard than anyone."

"Well I certainly won't do it," the other woman said, "I want my old body back thank you. This one is so old and ugly."

Daniel Jackson was the one to turn his head this time, "Really Vala?"

Vala Mal Doran shrugged, "Hey, I'm just being honest. Don't tell me you like this either Daniel."

The argument the group was involved in was which of them was going to stay the age they currently were. The reason why one of them had to do so was simple…all one had to do was look out a window, and they could see a golden bolt of energy seemingly frozen in time. The _Odyssey_ was sitting in a Time-Dilation field, with an attacking Ori Mothership right outside of it. The reason that this affected one of them staying old was also simple…the current plan was to use the energy of the beam to reverse time inside the field. The problem was that it would also erase any memories of the fifty years that the crew had spent in the field.

Thus, one of them would be shielded and have a crystal to shut down the Asgard Legacy, which would stop the Ori from tracing them. Of course, none of them particularly wanted to remain their current age, but all in the room knew it was needed. The last person in the room had been listening silently for that very reason. But now, he stood up and addressed the group.

"I shall do it. As a Jaffa, I age far slower than a human," the man said.

"Oh come on Teal'c…you've lost just as much as we have. You're what…150 now?" Cam said, waving a hand at Teal'c.

The Jaffa warrior just raised an eyebrow, "I am the only choice Colonel Mitchell."

Before Cam could argue, Sam started to support her friend, "I have to agree with Teal'c on this one. The rest of us are at our limits. But still…are you sure about this Teal'c?"

This time Teal'c just nodded, which was all Sam needed. She stood up and set out for the control room for the Asgard Legacy. They had wasted enough time after all…why bother waiting any longer than was needed? Teal'c followed her, while Cam continued to stare out the window. Quickly realizing what was going to happen soon, Daniel and Vala left to the formers quarters. This would be the last time they could stay together like this, and they were not going to waste it.

While they were going to the quarters, Sam and Teal'c had reached the Core Room. In front of them was a large Asgard device, identified by its smooth design and almost translucent white coloration. It had a gentle hum, indicating that it was still providing what power it had left to maintaining the field.

Sam walked up to the core, and moved one of the crystals on top. With that done, a panel opened in the middle of the device, holding several more crystals. Sam removed one of the panels, and handed it to a silent Teal'c.

"This is the program that will disconnect the core. You _have_ to get this to me before I activate the time dilation field. It will be for nothing if you don't do that," the scientist said seriously.

Teal'c nodded again, "I will Colonel Carter."

Sam smiled lightly, "I know you will Teal'c. I'll miss this time I spent with you, Cam, Daniel…I'll even miss the time with Vala."

Teal'c remained silent, but his presence was enough for Sam. She let the smile trail off, and gave Teal'c instructions on where he needed to be for the shield to work. As the Jaffa walked off, Sam started to manipulate the console. The moment that her friend reached his destination, she activated a shield around his body, and dropped the dilation field.

The previously stationary Ori beam shot forward, and hit the shieldless _Odyssey_ right in its long neck. The beam tore clean through, setting off a cascade of explosions, and destroying the ship piece by piece. In the center of this stood Teal'c, enclosed in his shield as fire grew around him. But as the stoic Jaffa watched, the fire receded, and the _Odyssey_ 'rebuilt' itself.

But Teal'c neither knew, nor expected, just what that beam had done…

* * *

"Whatever you're going to do Sam do it quick!" Cam shouted from the bridge, as sparks flew around his head.

"Almost there…" Sam muttered under her breath, but right as she was about to start the dilation field, a hand stopped her.

Looking up, Sam saw Teal'c…but he looked different. There was a streak of gray in his hair, where before it had been pure black. Teal'c shook his head, and handed Sam a crystal. Trusting her friend, Sam inserted the crystal where he showed her to. As soon as the crystal was inserted, the Core shut down.

"Cam! The Core is down, we can jump to hyperspace now!" Sam called through the radio.

But they didn't feel the characteristic jump, and the _Odyssey_ seemed to have not moved at all. This obviously confused both Sam and Teal'c, as they should have jumped, or the Ori beam would have destroyed them.

"Cam?" Sam asked.

Silence reigned, before Cam's voice came over the radio_, "The Ori ship…it isn't there anymore. It just vanished into thin air."_

Sam and Teal'c looked at each other, both showing confused looks (or as confused as Teal'c ever showed).

Sam reached for her radio again, "Can you confirm that Cam? It just vanished? No hyperspace window?"

"_Yeah, no hyperspace window or anything. It was there one second, and gone the next. Any idea what happened Sam?"_ the Colonel asked.

Sam _really_ looked confused now. Unless the Ori suddenly had cloaks, they shouldn't have just vanished like that. The only other explanation that made sense was the Ancients finally getting involved, but that was about as likely as a Goa'uld showing up to help.

Sam turned to Teal'c before gesturing for the door, "We need to get up to the bridge Teal'c."

The Jaffa nodded, "Indeed."

The pair left the Core, and started to ascend to the bridge. The ship was quiet, as no one else was wandering the halls. They had dropped off the crew before fleeing the Ori, and it showed. The only other people aboard the _Odyssey_ were already on the bridge.

As Sam and Teal'c walked into said room, they saw Cam, Daniel, Landry, and Vala looking out the expansive window. All of them were looking towards where the Ori ship had previously been. But instead of the distinctive white warship, there was just a twinkling star field. Not even any debris to indicate the vessel had been destroyed.

Daniel was the first to notice Sam and Teal'c, and turned around. He naturally noticed Teal'c's new gray streak, and commented on it.

"Teal'c…what happened to your hair?" the former Archeologist asked.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, as the rest of the 'crew' turned around.

Vala was the second one to notice, "Yeah Muscles…dyeing your hair?"

The eyebrow rose higher, before Landry cut off the conversation, "As interesting as this is, do you have any idea how this Ori ship vanished?"

Sam looked over the sensor readings while Vala continued to examine Teal'c. Nothing that she saw made sense however…by all rights that Ori ship should still have been out there. The _Odyssey_ had not moved in the slightest, and all the stars looked the sa…wait…

"Sir…you need to see this," Sam said, bringing up an image of the star charts.

Landry walked up and examined the chart. He didn't see anything different though.

"What am I looking at Colonel?" the General asked.

Sam brought up another star chart. And when one looked closely, they could see that in the first chart the stars were in a slightly different position.

"The first chart is the star chart from our current position. The second one is what it _should_ be," Sam explained.

"What it 'should' be?" Daniel asked, almost dreading the answer.

Sam nodded curtly, "Yes…according to the sensors, the stars have accumulated about 500 years of stellar drift. Whatever happened…it shot us forward that far."

One could have heard a pin drop on the bridge of the cruiser. This was easily the only way the situation they had been in could have gotten worse. They had gone from being on their way back to Earth, hounded by the Ori, to being sling-shotted several hundred years into the future.

This was an ominous situation…was Earth still the same? Or had the Ori managed to conquer the planet? Would they return to find a slave world? Or a destroyed wasteland?

Questions like these were running through the heads of every member of the crew. The most prevalent question by far however, was if they could find a way back home. None of them wanted to believe they were stranded, with good reason.

"Sam…can you get us back?" Daniel asked.

Sam continued to study the sensor logs, before slumping her shoulders. She slowly turned around, and just as slowly shook her head.

"I can't. I honestly don't even know what happened to get us here…" the Colonel said sadly.

Teal'c stepped forward, "I can explain what I know Colonel Carter."

And with that, he gave the group on the bridge a short tale of the 50 years he had spent on the _Odyssey_. The Jaffa cut out most of the details, and focused on Sam's plan to save them from the Ori. When he detailed the plan to use the power in the Ori Beam to power the Core, Sam sighed and interrupted her old friend.

"That must be what did it then. I can't believe what I was thinking…the power in that beam couldn't be controlled. It is a miracle this is all that happened to us," Sam said with a shake of her head.

"Hey now…don't go blaming yourself Sam," Cam said with a shake of his own head, "We're still alive aren't we?"

Of course, that was only technically true. While the group was indeed still alive where they were, they were 'dead' back home. And without the technology aboard the _Odyssey_…Earth most likely fell. Even the Antarctic Weapons Platform couldn't hold back the Ori. And that was putting a damper on the mood of all aboard the cruiser.

But they couldn't let it stop them. So Landry stepped back up to the Captain's chair, and started to give out orders.

"We can't stay here. What is the nearest planet with a Stargate Colonel?" the older man asked.

"P3X-579 sir," Sam answered immediately.

Landry nodded, "Is the Hyperdrive functional?"

Sam nodded herself, "Yes sir."

"Then get us underway Colonel Mitchell," Landry replied, turning to Cam.

The Colonel nodded, and sat in the vacant helm position. He activated the sublight engines first, sending the cruiser on a new course. Then he activated the Asgard Hyperdrive, sending the ship launching forward at speeds that no other race could hope to match. It would only take them a matter of minutes to reach P3X-579, though none of them knew exactly what they would find…

* * *

**Sigma Octanus System**

**UNSC **_**Iroquois**_

**July 17****th****, 2552**

* * *

Meanwhile, a larger ship coasted through space. This vessel was also human in design, but it looked nothing like the _Odyssey_. This vessel was coated in heavy armor, and an even more angular/utilitarian design. As it floated through space, its four engines propelled it forward at a leisurely pace.

The ship was the UNSC _Iroquois_, a destroyer that had only recently been assigned to this system. This vessel was typical of its class, only being identified by the large red 'warstripes' painted along its side hull. At the moment it was on an extended patrol around the Sigma Octanus system, keeping an eye out for any Covenant incursions.

On the bridge of the vessel, Commander Jacob Keyes was idly tapping his old pipe against the arm of his command seat. It was a habit of his, along with chewing on the tip. He had only recently (a couple of months before hand) taken command of the _Iroquois_, and this was a fairly routine mission.

_Nothing in sight, and no sign of the Covenant. Let's hope it stays that way,_ Keyes thought, looking out at space.

But while he was looking, an alarm started to blare throughout the bridge the destroyer. Keyes quickly stood up, as one of his crew called out what was causing the alarm.

"Unknown spatial disturbance ahead! Not consistent with Covenant or UNSC Splipspace portals!" the officer called out.

"Weapons! Charge the MAC and ready the Archer Pods," Keyes belted out, as it was better to be prepared than caught flat-footed.

"MAC is charging, 10 percent and climbing," Aki Hikowa called out, "Archer pods warmed and ready for firing."

Keyes nodded in approval…he had been worried about his weapons officer, and she was proving to be competent. Now it was a wait to see exactly what was rapidly approaching Sigma Octanus. And it wasn't a long wait, as a massive purple…rip…in space appeared in front of the _Iroquois_. It was similar to a Splipspace vortex, but different at the same time.

As the crew of the destroyer looked on, a small ship shot out of the 'rip' at an insane velocity. The ship then quickly slowed down, before coasting to a halt in front of the _Iroquois_.Looking at the ship, it bore some resemblance to UNSC ships. But it was more streamlined, and was only slightly bigger than a Corvette.

What was odd was the fact that the vessel couldn't be quickly classified. At first, one would think it was a Corvette, due to the size and lack of a MAC gun. But the pods on the side appeared to be for fighters, which no Corvette could carry. And the power readings were off the charts, more equivalent to the likes of a Cruiser than a Crovette.

The ship seemed content to just float in space though. It made no move to attack the _Iroquois_ or move past the Destroyer. Keyes was somewhat confused by this. If the ship in front of him was some experimental UNSC design (considering it looked like it could be), it would have communicated with him by now. And if it were, God forbid, a Covenant trick, they would have fired on the _Iroquois_. The whole situation was maddeningly confusing.

"Has the vessel made any attempts at communication?" Keyes asked.

Lieutenant Hall shook her head, "Nothing sir."

Keyes nodded slightly, "Very well. Send out a query of who they are and their purpose here. It may be an experimental ship of ONI's."

Hall nodded and started to send out the ordered message. At first, the other ship remained silent, before a voice came over the radio.

"_This is General Hank Landry in command of the USS Odyssey of Earth. Who am I speaking to?"_ an older male voice echoed over the radio.

In an eerie repeat of the earlier situation aboard the _Odyssey_ one could hear a pin drop on the bridge of the UNSC vessel. All of the crew looked at each other, forgetting military protocol in a joint moment of shock. It seemed like this was indeed a human warship…but there was no vessel in the UNSC Navy known as _'Odyssey'_. And the 'USS' prefix hadn't been used in centuries.

Unsurprisingly, Keyes was the first to recover. He walked up to Hall's station and started to talk to the other ship, "This is the UNSC _Iroquois_, Command Keyes commanding. You will understand if I'm doubtful of your identification. The UNSC is the military arm of Earth and her Colonies, and I have never heard of a Corvette named _Odyssey_."

There was silence over the comms again, before Landry came back, _"Earth and her Colonies? UNSC?"_

"Yes, and I can only assume that you are Insurrectionists if you are not Covenant or UNSC," Keyes said, using the only option that really made sense, "If so, I have to ask you to halt any forward movement and power down any weapons."

The _Odyssey_ still hadn't moved, but that didn't mean much. The scans from the _Iroquois_ were being reflected somehow, and they couldn't get a good reading on its weapons.

"_We are not what you call 'Insurrectionists'. This will be hard to believe, but our vessel is not from this reality, or even this time period,"_ Landry said, to shocked looks, _"Have you ever heard of the alternate reality theories? It is possible, though difficult, to travel between them. We had a malfunction in our power systems, and it somehow sent us here."_

Keyes frowned at that explanation. After all, it went against everything he had ever learned in his years serving the UNSC. There had been ideas that it was possible to use Slipspace to break into another reality, but it was just that…an idea. There was no proof that an alternate reality existed. And time travel was just as hard to believe.

"That is hard to believe _Odyssey_. All of the UNSC's experiments indicate that it should not be possible to break the dimensional barrier, even assuming there truly are alternate realities," Keyes replied, "The same goes for time travel."

"_Perhaps we can send over our sensor log…_" Landry started, before an alarm could be heard in the background, _"Our long rage sensors just picked up something. We can't tell what it is though."_

Keyes turned to his own crew, where one of them was holding up a report. The report was from a Slipspace monitoring station, which had picked up a large mass approaching Sigma Octanus. At first, it looked like a rogue asteroid, but that was horribly rare. Keyes remembered reading a report by one of the 'washed-out' Spartans, that might explain this. Large masses in Slipspace distorted space more than in normal space. And if one flew in close enough formation…like the Covenant could do…

Keyes' eyes widened slightly. If he was calculating this right, the mass was four Covenant Frigates. More than a match for a single UNSC Destroyer like the _Iroquois_. But he still had to do something to stop the intruders.

"Where is the anomaly exiting Slipspace?" the Commander asked quickly.

An outline appeared on the tactical board a few dozen kilometers behind the _Odyssey_, "That is our best guess sir."

Keyes nodded and turned to his helmsman, "Get us there Lieutenant!"

The man looked distinctly unhappy, but he still fired the engines and started to move the _Iroquois_ to its destination. The _Odyssey_ moved out of the way, not sure exactly what was going on. But they got their answer as a large purple hole opened in space, vomiting out not four frigates…but two frigates, a destroyer, and a large carrier…

* * *

**AN: And there we go...was it good? Please let me know in a review what you think. And if you have any questions. See you all later! ;)**


	2. Battle of Sigma Octanus IV

**AN: And now we have the second chapter. I'm honestly surprised by how quick I got this up. Just don't expect me to always manage this :P**

**That being said, this is a loooonnnggg chapter, by my standards. And especially so considering the large majority of it is the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV (the space portion anyway). I hope that I didn't disapoint, and that you all keep reviewing. Since that does keep me writing ;)**

**(and if you recognize anything, its from _Fall of Reach_, and credit for that goes to Eric Nylund)**

* * *

**Sigma Octanus System**

**July 17th 2552**

**UNSC _Iroquois_/USS _Odyssey_**

* * *

"What are they doing? We mentioned that anomaly and they just start ignoring us?" Cam wondered aloud.

And the 'UNSC' ship was indeed ignoring them now. The much larger warship was heading past the _Odyssey_ at what looked like flank speed. It provided the SGC crew a nice profile view, inducing a couple raised eyebrows at the 'warstripes' painted on the ship. As they watched the ship move past their own flank, the sensors started to blare a warning again.

"Whatever that anomaly is, it's getting closer…and larger," Sam said, zeroing in on a part of space, right where the _Iroquois_ was heading.

As the crew watched, a massive purple tear opened in space. It wasn't a hyperspace window, though it did seem similar. But instead of seeing part of the blue tunnel that was hyperspace, all there was in the center was a black abyss that seemed to swallow all light. Out of this abyss came four warships, all of an odd design.

They looked almost like an Asgard warship with the sleek, predatory lines. But they had large bulges on the front in the case of the larger ships, and the smaller ones looked almost like a teardrop. And even the smaller ships were far larger than the _Odyssey_. The difference in size was like comparing a mouse to a lion. The largest ship was as big as an Asgard Mothership, and looked just as powerful. And all the ships had high power readings, and some sort of shielding system.

"The smaller ships are charging some sort of weapon!" Sam called out, having taken over the sensors by now.

And a look out the window revealed the weapons. The flanks of the 'smaller' ships were glowing an angry red, as something charged along their flanks. As the light grew more and more bright, it discharged in an angry red…blob…that flew like it was being guided.

"It looks like some sort of plasma weapon! That ship is using magnetic fields to guide it," Sam reported, as the plasma flew at the _Iroquois_.

"Now what are they doing?!" Cam interrupted, watching as the 'UNSC' ship flew right at the middle-sized ship.

It seemed like the _Iroquois_ was going at flank speed right at the larger purple warships. For their part, the other vessels ignored the comparatively tiny _Odyssey_ and directed their plasma at the larger destroyer. It seemed like Keyes was suicidal, as the _Iroquois_ didn't move out of the way of the plasma.

But at what seemed like the last possible second, the _Iroquois_ moved out of the way of the plasma. It looked like the destroyer had fired some sort of emergency thruster, as it jerked like someone was pulling it out of the way. But despite that move, it continued on at what looked like its full speed. The plasma turned around, and started to literally chase the ship though.

"They can guide it this long? What kind of technology is that…" Daniel muttered, impressed by this new race.

As the SGC crew watched, they saw the plasma continue to track the _Iroquois_ which didn't change course at all. The frigates turned to follow the destroyer, as it continued on to its purple equivalent. The Covenant Destroyer didn't bother to turn, as they expected their shields to take the kamikaze UNSC ship without being depleted. What they didn't expect was the _Iroquois_ to make a last minute turn. The UNSC destroyer barely grazed the Covenant shields, though it still tore off all the lower armor and bulkheads.

The plasma following the _Iroquois_ couldn't make a course correction in time, and first one, then both, bolts slammed into the larger warship. The silverly sheen of the Covenant shields held for a second against the first bolt, but it eventually failed, allowing the second bolt to gut the ship. The fleeing _Iroquois_ fired a barrage of missiles, taking down what remained of the ship, before beginning a sling-shot around the planet.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the _Odyssey_ the crew was somewhat slack-jawed as they looked at the results of Keyes maneuver.

"That has got to be the craziest move I've ever seen," Cam said with a little awe in his voice, "but it worked!"

The rest of the crew nodded (or in Teal'c's case grunted). That was indeed the craziest move in a spaceship they had ever seen. And that was saying something considering what Sam and Daniel had gotten up to.

But they were distracted by Sam noticing something, "There is something floating between the smaller ships. Sensors are scanning…it's a nuke! And a powerful one too!"

Shocked looks once again reigned aboard the _Odyssey_…just what was Keyes planning now…

"We lost all of our bottom armor, and the lower decks are exposed to vacuum sir!" Hall called out, as alarms blared in the bridge of the _Iroquois._

Keyes nodded, and watched as the Covenant ships receded into the background, "Fire Archer pods A1-C1!"

With that order, dozens of missiles flew out from the destroyer's missile pods, impacting what was left of the Covenant destroyer. The ship detonated in a massive fireball, obscuring the enemy frigates. Keyes took advantage of the distraction to push his damaged ship even further, getting into a slingshot orbit of Sigma Octanus IV.

"Engine coolant failure, sir," Lieutenant Hall said.

"Shut the engines down," he ordered. "Emergency vent."

"Aye, sir. Venting fusion reactor plasma."

The _Iroquois _was abruptly quiet. No rumble of her engines. And no one said anything until Lieutenant

Hikowa stood and said, "Sir, that was the most brilliant maneuver I have ever seen."

Commander Keyes gave a short laugh. "You think so, Lieutenant?"

If one of his students had proposed such a maneuver in his tactics class, he would have given them a C+. He would have told them their maneuver was full of bravado and daring . . . but extremely risky, placing the crew and the ship in unnecessary danger.

"This isn't over yet. Stay sharp," he told them. "Lieutenant Hikowa what is the charge status of the MAC guns?"

"Capacitors at ninety-five percent, sir, and draining at a rate of three percent per minute."

"Ready MAC guns, one heavy round apiece. Arm all forward Archer missile pods."

"Aye, sir."

The _Iroquois _broke free of the dark side of Sigma Octanus IV.

"Fire chemical thrusters to break orbit, Lieutenant Hall."

"Firing, aye."

There was a brief rumble. The screen centered on the backsides of the two Covenant frigates they had passed on the way in, with the _Odyssey_ floating the distance, seemingly ignored.

The alien ships started to come about; blue flashes flickered along their hulls as their laser turrets charged. Motes of red collected along their lateral lines. They were readying another salvo of plasma torpedoes.

There was something there, however, that was too small to see on the view screen: the nuke. Keyes had launched that missile in the opposite direction—but its reverse thrust had not completely overcome their tremendous forward velocity.

As the _Iroquois _had screamed over the prow of the destroyer, and as they orbited Sigma Octanus IV, the nuke had drifted closer to the frigates . . . who had fixed their attention solidly on the _Iroquois _, ignoring the nuke and the _Odyssey_.

Commander Keyes tapped his data pad and sent the signal to detonate the bomb.

There was a flash of white, a crackle of lightning, and the alien ships vanished as a cloud of destruction enveloped them. Waves of the EMP interacted with the magnetic field of Sigma Octanus IV—rippled with rainbow borealis. The cloud of vapor expanded and cooled, and faded to yellow, orange, red, then black dust that scattered into space.

Both Covenant frigates, however, were still intact. Their shields, however, flickered once . . . then went dead.

"Get me firing solutions for the MAC guns, Lieutenant Hikowa. On the double."

"Aye, sir. MAC gun capacitors at ninety-three percent. Firing solution online."

"Fire, Lieutenant Hikowa."

Two thumps resonated through the hull of the _Iroquois._

"Lock remaining Archer missile pods on targets and fire."

"Missiles away, Commander."

If one was looking at the _Iroquois_ they would have seen it disappear in a wall of fire as hundreds of missiles flew out from their pods. In front of the swarm of missiles were two 600 ton MAC shells, hurtling at an appreciable portion of the speed of light towards the Covenant warships.

When the MAC rounds hit, they tore through them—one ship was holed from nose to tail; the other ship was hit on her midline, right near the engines. Internal explosions chained up the length of the ship, bulging the second ship's hull along her length.

Archer missiles impacted seconds later, exploding through chunks of hull and armor, tearing the alien ships apart. The frigate that had taken the MAC round in her engines mushroomed, a fireworks bouquet of shrapnel and sparks. The other ship burned, her internal skeletal structure showing now; she turned toward the _Iroquois _but didn't fire a weapon . . . just drifted out of control. Dead in space.

"Position of the Covenant carrier, Lieutenant Hall?"

Lieutenant Hall paused, then reported, "In polar orbit around Sigma Octanus Four. But she's moving off at considerable speed. Wait…it's charging a plasma torpedo…"

"What is it targeting?" Keyes asked, even if he knew his ship was in no shape to attack.

"The _Odyssey_! Torpedo has been fired!" Hall replied.

As the crew watched in dismay, a massive ball of plasma headed straight for the corvette-sized ship. The _Odyssey_ made no attempt to move, despite the bridge crew of the _Iroquois_ begging it to move in their thoughts. Before their shocked eyes, the _Odyssey_ vanished in the wall of plasma.

"The torpedo hit its target…the _Odyssey_ is gone," Hikowa reported, a sad tone to her voice. After all, from all indications the crew of that vessel was just as human as she was.

Keyes started to turn away from the view-port, but a shocked gasp drew his attention back. As he looked on, the plasma dissipated, revealing the corvette to be unscathed. A blue energy barrier, similar to, yet not identical to, the Covenant's shields surrounding it.

"What am I seeing?" Keyes asked one of the other bridge officers.

"It appears that the _Odyssey_ has some sort of shield system…they have suffered no damage from the plasma," the officer replied with a slight bit of awe in his voice.

All of the crew was more than a little shocked. Not only did a _human_ warship have shields, but they were more powerful than the Covenant variety. No Covvie warship that small could take a Carrier's torpedo with no damage.

_"Commander Keyes,"_ Landry's voice came back, _"Who just attacked us?"_

"The Covenant…a group of alien races determined to wipe out humanity," Keyes answered, figuring that maybe…_just_ _maybe_, Landry had been telling the truth with his wild story.

There was silence over the radio, before Landry said, _"Acknowledged…excuse us while we destroy that ship."_

And with that, the line was cut. Keyes had been ready to warn the _Odyssey_ off, as shield or no shield, the ship couldn't possibly take on a carrier more than five times its size and win. But the corvette continued on, heading right towards the massive Covenant warship.

The carrier fired another torpedo, but this time the _Odyssey_ dodged the angry red fire. The small ship displayed maneuverability far in excess of a UNSC ship, and was soon catching up with the carrier. The _Odyssey_ fired off a handful of missiles that were intercepted by the pulse laser turrets.

The _Odyssey_ was then forced to shoot 'up' relative to the carrier to avoid its return fire. What neither the Covenant nor Keyes noticed was a small flash of light next to the ship. When the _Odyssey_ reached a certain distance away from the Covenant warship, a massive nuclear fireball erupted right next to it. The Naquadah-enhanced nuclear warhead was more than powerful enough to crack the shield, though the ship inside it survived relatively unscathed. At least until another nuke was beamed next to its hull, and detonated right on top of it.

As the crew of the UNSC ship watched, they saw a ship that could have cleanly gutted their own vessel be obliterated by a ship only half the size of the _Iroquois_. All that was left was a rapidly expanding field of debris. Keyes found it odd that the ship had retreated however…even with the shock of the _Odyssey_ having shields, the Covenant never retreated. The Carrier had been heading for the planet beforehand though…

"Check the planet," he told Lieutenant Hall, "Look for anything…dropped weapons, strange transmissions. There's got to be something there."

Keyes desperately hoped there wasn't anything there. His ship was in no condition to fight, and the _Odyssey_ could only do so much. But it wasn't meant to be…

"Sir!" Lieutenant Hall cried, "Dropships, sir. The alien carrier deployed thirty…correction, thirty four, dropships. I have silhouettes descending to the surface. They're on course for Côte d'Azur. A major population center."

"An invasion," Commander Keyes said, "Get FLEETCOM ASAP. Time to send in the Marines."

Meanwhile, the _Odyssey_ had flown up to the _Iroquois_ and used some sort of tractor beam to slow the speeding ship down. The two human warships were now floating together, waiting for a dedicated tow to show up for the larger warship.

"Also, let General Landry know that his ship needs to stay here. I get the feeling that FLEETCOM will want to know about him," Keyes added.

His day had just gotten a whole lot more interesting…

* * *

**0600 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar) **

**UNSC _Iroquois_/USS_ Odyssey _, military staging area in orbit around Sigma Octanus IV**

"They sure don't skimp on the ships do they?" Cam asked lightly, looking at the dozens of warships floating around the system.

All of them dwarfed the _Odyssey_. But using the _Iroquois_ as an example, SG-1 had a pretty good idea of which ships were which. There looked to be mostly 'frigates' with a handful of 'destroyers' and two larger ships. There was one massive warship in the distance too.

At the moment though, both the 304, and its new friend were docked at a massive refit station. The words 'UNSC _Cradle_' were written on the side, leading them to assume that was the stations name. It was easily big enough to handle a dozen 304's, and at least six of the larger UNSC ships.

And it seemed to be needed too. While the _Odyssey_ had come out of the battle untouched, the _Iroquois_ wasn't near as lucky. The entire bottom half of the ship had been sheared off…if Keyes had messed up even slightly, it would have broken in half. Work drones, and men in EVA suits flew around, cutting off the jagged plates so that new ones could be put in place.

But it looked like that could take quite a long time, as the damage was nothing to sneeze at. As it was though, Landry and Sam had taken a 302 over to the other ship for a meeting. They didn't know what it was about, but they had to go.

As they transferred from _Cradle_ to the _Iroquois_, Sam and Landry were directed to Keyes' quarters. When they reached the room, they found the door already open with Keyes and an older man in an Admiral's uniform sitting at the desk.

"Congratulations _Captain_ Keyes," the Admiral said, before noticing his guests, "Ah, your new friends have arrived. Well, don't just stand there, come on in."

Sam and Landry walked in, the former still in her BDU's, the latter in his dress uniform. The small office was somewhat cramped, but Sam and Landry found the room.

"Scotch?" Keyes offered.

Sam shook her head, while Landry took a small cup. The two SGC members then found themselves being stared at by the UNSC men. It seemed like they were still in shock about the _Odyssey_ being a human ship.

"Okay, Captain Keyes told me who you two are," Stanforth started, "Or at least who you _claim_ to be. You will understand that I find this hard to believe."

Sam nodded, "If this hadn't happened to us before, we wouldn't believe it either."

Stanforth and Keyes shared a look at that, before the former said, "This…reality jumping…has happened to you before?"

Sam nodded again, "Where we come from, a race called the Ancients built a device that allowed one to jump between realities at will. We called it a 'Quantum Mirror'."

"Ancients? And they could move between realities at will?" Stanforth asked, still sounding very skeptical.

"Yes…I know it is hard to believe Admiral, but it is the truth," Sam said, "Just look at our uniforms…where we come from, it is only 2007."

Stanforth admitted to himself that Sam had a point there. The uniforms that the _Odyssey_ pair were wearing were ancient. Only in museums could you find a uniform like that. That didn't exclude the possibility that the uniforms were fake, but it was still a point in their favor.

"I'm still not sure I believe your story, at least without sending technicians aboard the _Odyssey_," Stanforth said, "But if you are willing to help us against the Covenant, I will hold off on that for now. We need every ship we can get when they come for Sigma Octanus."

This time Landry nodded, "I can understand that Admiral. These…Covenant…attacked us without any warning, and according to Captain Keyes are trying to wipe out all humanity. Where we come from, an enemy called the 'Wraith' was attempting to do much the same, at least to Earth. So we are willing to help you in this battle."

"Thank you General. Well, I need to marshal the Fleet now," Stanforth started, "I will send a message on where you need to be positioned when the Covenant arrive General."

With that, the old man left the room. Sam and Landry shared a look, before turning to Keyes. The newly minted Captain just sighed.

"I'll have one of my crew escort you back to _Cradle_…and I want to say thank you, for taking down that Covenant carrier. If it had escaped, that would have been another ship they would have to fight us," Keyes said, before standing and shaking the hands of his guests.

With that done, Sam and Landry headed back for their own ship. They had expected a longer meeting…but with the obvious threat the Covenant were, it made sense that the UNSC needed more time to marshal their fleet.

* * *

**2120 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar) **

**USS _Odyssey_,**** military staging area in orbit around Sigma Octanus IV**

Sometime later, the Fleet had started to move into a new formation. The ships had tactical information downloaded to them, including the _Odyssey_. What surprised both the SGC-group, and crew of the _Iroquois_ was the fact that _Cradle_ stayed with the fleet.

"The Admiral wanted _Cradle_ to stay with the fleet," Daniel asked on the _Odyssey_, "Why would he do that?"

Cam turned to his friend/teammate, "Who knows, but there must be a reason. Maybe he doesn't want the Covenant ambushing it?"

Daniel nodded, "Makes sense I suppose…where's Keyes?"

"Right behind us. It seems like the _Iroquois_ is supposed to stay with us," Sam answered this time.

And that was indeed the truth, as the still damaged destroyer was hovering close to the _Odyssey_. It only had about 50 percent of the thrust it should have had however, so the 304 could quite easily outpace it. Then again, the _Odyssey_ could outpace the entire UNSC fleet if it particularly wanted to.

Right now though, it was flying in the middle of the large formation of ships, barely noticeable to those who weren't looking for the ship, as it was smaller than even the smallest UNSC ships in the fleet. But the _Odyssey_ had a duty that far outstripped its size. Keyes had informed Stanforth of how easily the 304 had handled the Covenant carrier, and the Admiral had latched onto that. Now the _Odyssey_ was the secret weapon of the UNSC fleet. The only question was, how effective it would be.

"So…what exactly are we going to do?" Vala asked.

"What do you mean?" Cam asked back.

"Well you saw what those ships have…we don't have those big guns to use," the former Goa'uld host pointed out, "And those purple blobs can handle our missiles."

Which was the truth…the carrier they had fought earlier had easily intercepted the handful of missiles the _Odyssey_ had fired at it without much difficulty. And from what they had heard on _Cradle_, the UNSC would often have to fire literally hundreds of missiles to get hits in. Granted, they could always beam the nukes again, but that required getting close to the Covenant warships, and they could only take a few hits from those plasma torpedoes.

Which really only left one real option…

"Are the Asgard weapons charged?" Cam asked.

"Yes they are. Though I have no idea how they will work against those shields," Sam replied.

But they didn't have time to plan much. A fleet of twenty Covenant ships was rapidly approaching the UNSC battlegroup. The human ships outnumbered the Covvies two to one, but anyone who had been in this war knew that wasn't enough. What still confused the crews however was the tight formation the UNSC ships were floating in. One barrage from the Covenant would be enough to destroy them.

As it was, every ship but the _Odyssey_ received firing coordinates, and a countdown timer. As the crew on the 304 watched, the Covenant fleet ahead of them started to turn and expose their flanks. Said flanks began to take on a bright red light, as plasma formed for their first salvo.

Meanwhile, the UNSC fleet was rapidly charging their MAC guns, despite the nervousness of their crews. After about a minute, both fleets fired their opening salvo. Dozens of MAC shells flew out from the UNSC fleet, rattling the _Odyssey_ slightly. While from the Covenant fleet, a barrage of plasma torpedoes approached.

As the shells and plasma crisscrossed space, a message came from Stanforth's ship.

_"All ships: hold your positions. Divert all engine power to recharge your guns. We've got something special cooked up."_ He paused for a split second, _"Do not-I repeat, do not- under any circumstance break position or fire before you are ordered to do so. Stanforth out."_

Obviously, the _Odyssey_ had no guns to charge, but it was likely that Stanforth still had them receive the message to make sure that the 304 didn't break formation. Which they had no intention of doing anyway, as they were at the center of the fleet, right next to the _Leviathan._

As the crew of the _Odyssey_ watched, they saw the first salvo impact the Covenant ships. Several of the vessels lost shields, after taking one or more hits. A couple were even knocked out of formation. But the angry red plasma continued to approach the UNSC fleet.

"How long till that plasma hits us T?" Cam asked.

"Ten seconds Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c replied, a picture of perfect calm.

The same couldn't be said for most of the UNSC crews, as they were quite literally staring death in the face. But they still followed orders, as the second salvo hitting the Covenant fleet showed. This time, several ships were destroyed. A destroyer took a hit from a heavy shell, and started to list to the side. That is, until another shell slammed into the damaged ship and tore clean through. The destroyer hung for a second, before it blew apart in a massive fireball.

While the destroyer burned, a frigate took two hits in rapid succession. The hits knocked it to the side, where it collided with a second frigate. Both of the ships lost all power, and were locked in a deadly dance. They floated to the side, before colliding with a third frigate. The three vessels then blew apart in an even bigger fireball than the destroyer, flinging debris throughout the Covenant fleet.

But the plasma continued to get closer…

"We're receiving another message!" Sam called out.

_"Lead to all ships: hold your positions,"_ Admiral Stanforth said, _"Make ready to fire. Transfer timers to your computers…and hang on to your hats."_

As Stanford said that, a shadow fell over the gathered fleet. The source was readily apparent, as _Cradle_ floated down in front of the UNSC formation. It didn't take a genius to know what they were doing either.

"They're sacrificing themselves…" Daniel said with a slight tinge of horror in his voice.

And indeed they were. As the crew watched, _Cradle_ took the impacts of the Covenant torpedoes, the sheer power behind the hits pushing the station back. If one looked at the center of the station, they could see a red glow beginning to form, as the plasma heated the steel and titanium beyond its limits.

"Can we get a lock on the crew?!" Cam shouted, watching as holes began to form on the station.

"Only a handful," Sam said sadly, but she still knew what Cam wanted.

And thus, with a flash of white light, the _Odyssey_ beamed what members of the crew it could reach. With that done, the station continued to float down, passing the horrified UNSC fleet. But they turned that horror into a cold fury. As soon as they were able to, the fleet fired the third volley. It was a twenty-one gun salute three times over. And the Covenant were going to pay…

_"All ships: break and attack!"_ Admiral Stanforth bellowed, _"Pick your targets and fire at will. Take as many of these bastards out as you can! Stanforth out."_

With that order, the UNSC fleet broke formation and charged at the Covenant lines. One ship even charged directly down the throat of the Covenant fleet.

But the _Odyssey_ didn't move right away, as an order from Stanforth came in, _"Odyssey, you are to attack the Covenant center line. Make your shots count, Stanforth out."_

Cam looked over his shoulder, waiting for an order from Landry.

"Take us into hyperspace…we'll drop out right over their center. Prime the Asgard weapons, and the railguns," Landry ordered.

Cam nodded, and sent the _Odyssey_ into the blue tunnel of hyperspace. It only lasted for a split-second however, before the cruiser dropped out. Looking down, they could see the battered Covenant fleet, battling with the approaching UNSC forces. But they weren't expecting a ship to drop out over their proverbial heads.

"Fire all weapons!" Landry shouted.

Teal'c nodded, and started to fire the _Odyssey's_ weapons. And if the Covenant were surprised by the ship appearing over their heads, they were even more shocked when it fired energy weapons at them. The blue beams from the Asgard weapons, blasted holes clean through the shieldless Covenant ships.

The _Odyssey_ fired as fast as its weapons could cycle, blasting apart Covenant ships in a handful of shots. The alien warships turned up, to fire on the human warship. A barrage of plasma flew at the 304, which dodged the majority of the shots. A pair of torpedoes clipped its side however, the plasma making its blue shields flare as they tried to absorb and reflect the energy.

"Shields down to 75 percent!" Sam called out, "More torpedoes inbound!"

Forced to dodge once again, the _Odyssey_ missed its next pair of shots. But the UNSC fleet had started to batter at the Covenant fleet. In the end, the shock from the _Odyssey_, coupled with fire from the UNSC, routed the Covenant fleet. The remaining ships flew in different directions, trying to flank the UNSC fleet. But after a few minutes, they suddenly broke off to retreat.

The reason was simple…the _Iroquois_ had broken off from the main fleet, and taken out the stealth corvette that the Covenant fleet had been trying to distract the UNSC from. With their mission a failure, the ships had no reason to stick around. And thus, the five or so remaining ships jumped into slipspace, leaving a field of debris behind. The UNSC fared better, with only a handful of ships destroyed. The majority of the fleet had survived, thanks to the distraction that the _Odyssey_ had provided.

But now, the crew had some major explaining to do. Especially to the members of _Cradle's_ crew they had picked up. And in some ways, they were dreading having to do it…

* * *

**AN: And there we go. Like I said, please let me know if this was good or not. It really does help more than you know :D**


	3. Reach

**AN: Not quite as long, or as quick as the last one. Sorry about that, but I stalled on writing the _Cradle_ crew...and in the end had to trash that part. Just couldn't get it to work :(**

**In any case though, I did make what is probably the longest meeting I've ever written. So that's a plus. Let me know what you all think, so that I can keep this going :D**

**(note: I trashed the reaction part, there were still some survivors rescued from _Cradle_ though)**

* * *

**0500 Hours, July 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) /**

**USS _Odyssey_, military staging area in orbit around Sigma Octanus IV**

The area around Sigma Octanus IV was riddled with debris. Despite the aid from the _Odyssey_ the UNSC had still lost several ships, and _Cradle_. By far the lion's share of the debris was from Covenant warships however. Blackened hulks floated through space, their once sleek hulls torn asunder. Most of the alien ships were shattered from MAC rounds, but a handful were still more or less intact. The precise beams from the _Odyssey_ had disabled them, but left them more or less intact. With careful use of the Asgard beaming, they had managed to get the crews off also.

Because of that, the somewhat shocked UNSC was currently towing the most intact of the ships to an orbit over the planet. They had never been able to capture Covenant ships, simply because whenever they damaged a ship enough, the crew would self-destruct. And a MAC plus Archer Missiles weren't able to do enough damage to kill the crew, while leaving the ship intact. And lacking transporters…they were highly limited in their options. Of course, the millions of small pieces of debris showed that the _Odyssey_ was no different…it had taken a couple ships to make out where to shoot them without destroying the things. In the end, only two frigates were intact enough to study.

But that was still better than the UNSC could have hoped for, even with the cost in lives it took to get them. Said cost was painfully obvious when one looked at the massive burnt hulk that was _Cradle_. The repair station was slowly tearing itself apart in orbit of Sigma Octanus IV, with burnt and twisted girders spinning off into space.

Thirty volunteers had been aboard the station when it took the Covenant weapons fire. Fire that had made ten decks of armor and steel look like tissue paper. The _Odyssey_ had only managed to beam off six of the crew…the rest had died piloting the massive station. And even those six had various levels of injuries, a couple even in comas. But they were the lucky ones, as one of the 304's cargo holds showed. It was filled with recovered bodies, waiting to be returned to their homes. Assuming they still _had_ homes, with how many planets had been lost since the war began.

"So much death," Daniel said, looking out at the debris, "These Covenant…they're worse than the Ori."

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

The two were standing at the bridge window, after helping with the cargo hold. The amount of death and destruction rivaled the first battle with the Ori. The difference of course, was in how the Covenant differed from the Ori. The latter was trying to convert the Milky Way, and was perfectly willing to let people stay alive. The former…they were trying to wipe out all humanity. All one had to do was look at Sigma Octanus itself. Three hundred thousand people had been slaughtered in Côte d'Azur. Worse than anything SG-1 had seen since the death of the Tollan.

"I hate to say it, but I don't think we can just abandon the UNSC," Cam added, "Even if we could get home…can we really justify leaving this many people to their deaths? You saw how much just having the _Odyssey_ affected this battle."

"I have to agree with Cam on this one, they need our help. And I can't even begin to guess on how to get us home," Sam pointed out.

She didn't get any argument from the rest of the 'crew'. They all wanted to go home…they all knew how little chance Earth had against the Ori without the weapons aboard the _Odyssey_. But by the same token, they couldn't just leave the billions of people in the UNSC to their deaths. Not without doing everything in their power to help.

As it was, the _Odyssey_ followed the _Iroquois_ in another circuit of the debris belt, doing what it could to help. It wasn't much, not with the other searches. But they had to try…who knew how many people might still be floating out here?

But before they could get very far, a message came over the comm systems, though it was text-only.

**United Nations Space Command Priority Transmission 09872H-98**

**Encryption Code: **Red

**Puplic Key: **file/lightning-matrix-four/

**From:** Admiral Michael Stanforth, Commanding Officer UNSC _Leviathan_/ UNSC Sector Three Commander/ (UNSC Service Number: 00834-19223-HS)

**To:** Captain Jacob Keyes, Commanding Officer UNSC _Iroquois_/ (UNSC Service Number: 01928-19912-JK)/ Major General Hank Landry, Commanding Officer USS _Odyssey_

**Subject: **ORDERS FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION

**Classification: **SECRET (BGX Directive)

_/start file/_

_Keyes, Landry,_

_Drop whatever you're doing and head back to the barn (Keyes will escort you General). We're all wanted for immediate debriefing by ONI at Reach Headquarters ASAP. You will have to slave your navigation to the Iroquois, Odyssey._

_ It looks like the spooks at Naval Intelligence are up to their normal cloak-and-dagger tricks, and we don't want them to have more ammo._

_Cigars and brandy afterward._

_Regards,_

_Stanforth_

"Hmm…this is interesting," Landry commented, "can we enter this 'Slipspace' that the UNSC uses Colonel?"

Sam shrugged, "In theory yes, sir. It resembles a lower level of subspace…a more primitive Hyperdrive if you will. So as long as we stay close to the _Iroquois_ we will be fine. We'll probably have to go slow though."

A small round of chuckles went around the room at that. With a ZPM and the Neutrino-Ion Generator installed on the _Odyssey_ it was faster than anything short of an Asgard _O'Neill_ class. But the laughter subsided, and the 'crew' got to work. They needed to prepare the ship for this jump, as none of them knew how it would go.

As the ship moved closer to the _Iroquois_, they both flew a patch of vaporized titanium and steel. Most likely destroyed battle-plate from one of the handful of destroyed UNSC ships. The twin ships pushed the debris aside, most of it fading away in their engine washes. One piece of debris, however, floated near the _Iroquois_.

It was small, almost indistinguishable from any of a thousand other softball-sized blobs that cluttered radar scopes and polluted thermal sensors.

If anyone had been looking close enough, however, they would have seen that this particular piece of metal drifted in the opposite direction from all the other masses nearby. It trailed behind the accelerating _Iroquois_…and edged closer, moving with purpose. When it was close enough, it extended tiny electromagnets that guided it closer and closer to the _Iroquois_' engines. However, instead of blending in with the destroyer's engine, it collided with the _Odyssey's_ shields as the smaller ship dodged a piece of the debris. The small probe sparked slightly, before vaporizing from the impact…ruining the Covenant's plans for the device…and inadvertently sparing Reach…

* * *

**1000 Hours, August 12, 2552 (Military Calendar) /**

**Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Military Complex, planet Reach, Camp Hathcock**

It had taken far longer than the crew of the _Odyssey_ had been expecting to reach their destination. The _Iroquois_ was slower than any ship they had ever encountered, even a Goa'uld Ha'tak. Honestly, they were starting to realize why it had taken five hundred years for the UNSC to reach its current territory level.

But when they finally arrived on Reach, they had found it heavily defended. The amount of ships in orbit was impressive, even by the standards set by the Goa'uld. Not to mention the twenty massive guns in orbit…Jack O'Neill would love to be there, that was for sure. As the three ships (the _Leviathan _having joined the smaller warships) headed to Reach, they were greeted by an escort of UNSC ships. They still didn't trust the SGC crew, within reason. They were somewhat surprised to learn that the _Odyssey_ could just head in for a landing without any special preparations. So they had it land at one of the planetside shipyards, both to keep an eye on the trans-dimensional ship, and to study it.

Once the cruiser (though the UNSC stubbornly stuck with 'corvette') had landed, the majority of the 'crew' stayed aboard. The only one to leave was Landry, as he was the de-facto commander of the _Odyssey_. He was met outside the ship by Keyes, who was waiting by a 'Pelican' dropship.

"Good to see you General. I should warn you though, ONI is going to wring every little bit of intel they can get out of you and your crew," Keyes said, walking with the other man to the dropship.

Landry merely shrugged, "Sounds like the NID back home. I'm used to it Captain, and so are my subordinates. We'll be fine."

"Good to know," Keyes replied.

The two men sat in relative silence while they waited to reach their destination. When the bird eventually landed, Keyes stepped out first, leading Landry to what looked like a normal (if large) log cabin.

At the door, an MP saluted Keyes, and gave Landry an odd look. Which was what every UNSC soldier had done so far, as Landry's USAF uniform stuck out like a sore thumb. But he had clearance to enter this base (with an escort) so the MP let the displaced General in, along with the newly minted UNSC Captain. As the two rode down to Subbasement III, they discussed some minor things about the battle.

Soon enough though, they reached the Subbasement and exited the elevator. Another MP greeted the two men, and directed them through a large door into the debriefing chamber. When they entered the dimly lit room, it took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust. A large, curved desk dominated the far end of the rectangular room. There was a domed ceiling curving over their heads, with cameras, microphones, and speakers positioned like constellations in the night sky.

As they moved into the center of the room, a spotlight came on and tracked the two men. And ruined their night vision, making it harder to see the officers sitting in the shadows at the desk.

_Keep us from seeing them…psychological warfare at its simplest. This should be interesting…_ Landry thought, trying (and failing) to pick out any details of the other officers.

The first officer to talk was a woman, whose face was carefully hidden in the shadows.

"Captain Keyes, General Landry," the woman started, "We have to congratulate you on your success over Sigma Octanus IV. You captured us two Covenant ships, and destroyed most of their fleet."

"And you have certainly given us a lot to consider, you especially General," an older man added, "I still find it hard to believe you came from a different reality, and with such advanced technology."

"That seems to be the general opinion," Landry replied with a small smile.

"Be that as it may," a younger man said, "the technology aboard your ship interests us General. It is more advanced than the Covenant, and that especially has our interest."

The woman started to speak again before Landry could, "Before we talk about that however, I have news for Captain Keyes. The _Iroquois_ will be retrofitted with one of the shield generators we recovered from a Covenant frigate at Sigma Octanus. Your performance in that battle has earned you that much."

Keyes looked visibly surprised by that, "The _Iroquois_ ma'am? Permission to speak freely?"

The woman nodded, which was hard to see in the shadows, "Permission granted."

"Shouldn't the recovered shield generators be fitted to our cruisers? Or carriers?" Keyes pointed out, "They need them far more than a destroyer like the _Iroquois_."

It looked almost like the woman had a small smile on her face, "All of that is true Captain. But that ties into what we have to ask General Landry."

Said General lifted his head up, looking back at the other officers.

"Yes…we have a question for you General," the second man said, "With the size of your ship, we can only assume that your version of a shield generator must be equally small. But yet it has power in excess of Covenant Cruisers. We are hoping you will share this technology with us."

Landry had been expecting that. And honestly, he was in agreement with his 'crew' on this one. They had no current way home, and the UNSC was apparently horridly outmatched by the Covenant. Their ships didn't even have rudimentary shields. So it only made sense to help them in any way he could.

"I can share this technology with the UNSC," Landry began, "However; we must have something in return."

The officers looked amongst themselves before the first man said, "What do you require General?"

"Commissions in your military. If we are to give you our technology, you will need our expertise to use it effectively. And we must retain the _Odyssey_ for if we ever discover a way home," the General replied.

The officers muttered amongst themselves for a few minutes, before the woman spoke again, "These terms are agreeable. We will have commissions ready for you and your crew General. Along with new men to man the _Odyssey_ as Admiral Stanforth informed us how undermanned you are. However, we have more questions for you."

Landry looked up at the Officers, and nodded, "Ask away."

"We have read the report filed by the surviving members of the Repair Station _Cradle's_ crew. Those of them who are still able to file a report," one of the women said, "And we are curious just how exactly you managed to rescue them. None of the Fleet reports a shuttle or dropship launching from the _Odyssey_, and as near as we can tell you just plucked them right off the station."

"In a way we did," Landry answered, "One of the technologies aboard the _Odyssey_ is a point-to-point matter transporter. We call it beaming."

A rapid flurry of murmurs started up upon hearing that. This was _definitely_ something that not even the Covenant possessed. And the tactical potential…it was staggering to put it mildly. With this technology, it wouldn't be needed to land Pelicans…they could just beam the supplies and troops to the surface. Battles with Covenant ships could go far easier, as a single Prowler equipped with 'beaming' technology could transport a minefield right on top of them. Which reminded the panel of something that had seemed odd in Keyes' report.

"General, is this…'beaming'…what you used to destroy the Covenant Carrier? Captain Keyes reported that it shot down all of your missiles, yet you still put two nuclear weapons in close proximity to the carrier," the first man asked.

Landry nodded, "Yes it was. When we realized our missiles were being intercepted, I gave the order to beam the nukes next to the ship."

Though it was hard to see in the shadows, the other man nodded, "That has immense potential against the Covenant General. However, two nuclear weapons should not have been able to destroy a Covenant Carrier so completely. Even our most powerful nuclear weapons would have trouble doing so."

"Our nukes are enhanced with a mineral called 'naquadah'. It increases the yield by several orders of magnitude. A standard naquadah enhanced nuclear warhead yields in excess of one gigaton," Landry explained.

Even in the dark, one could see the shocked looks on the faces of the committee. If that was a _standard_ warhead, one could only imagine what a truly large one could do. And standard in the sense of a 21st century nuke…nowhere near as powerful as larger UNSC weapons. Add this 'naquadah' to a Shiva…or God-forbid that NOVA that Whitcomb was working on…the potential was frightening.

"You have given us a lot to discuss General. Captain Keyes will escort you back to your ship for now, though we will have to talk with your engineers later," the first woman said.

Keyes and Landry both saluted before walking out of the room. As they left, a nervous looking Corporal walked past them. But that wasn't what drew their attention. What got their attention was the mountain of a man standing…no _towering_ above their heads. He made Teal'c look like an average human, and that was saying something.

Keyes' eyes went to the man's service tag, and a small smile broke out on his face.

"At ease Master Chief…it's nice to see you again," the Captain said.

"Sir?" the giant of a man asked.

"We met a very long time ago. Dr. Halsey and I…" Keyes stopped, and sent a sidelong glance at Landry, "Hell. I'm not allowed to talk about it."

"Of course, sir. I understand."

The MP attendant appeared in the hallway again, "Captain Keyes, General Landry, you're wanted topside by Admiral Stanforth."

The Captain nodded to the attendant, "In a moment."

He stepped closer to the Master Chief and whispered, "Be careful in there. The ONI brass are…less than kind. They will ask tough questions."

"They will sir?" the giant of a man asked, sounding puzzled, "But we won…and won by a large margin."

Captain Keyes took a step back and cocked a quizzical eyebrow, "Didn't Dr. Halsey ever teach you that winning isn't everything Master Chief?"

He then saluted the larger man, "You'll excuse us…follow me General."

The two men then left a confused giant behind them, with Landry somewhat confused himself. What Keyes had said didn't make much sense at first. But the more Landry thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make. If what he had seen was normal of this Master Chief, it was likely he had an unshakeable faith in the UNSC leadership. Which would make it easy to manipulate him. Maybe Keyes was trying to protect the man?

And the 'winning isn't everything' part was also true. They had won the battle at Sigma Octanus on every imaginable level…except for figuring out what the Covenant had wanted with the planet. Landry needed to remind himself to get Daniel to look over the data from that rock. Who knew, it might be something important, and Daniel was the best bet at translating what might be a new language.

But for now, he just climbed back into the Pelican, after joining Admiral Stanforth. He was going to have a busy time, having Sam show the UNSC how to build their technology. And figuring out how to integrate the crew they were providing.

* * *

**AN: And there we go. Let me know what you think, I love getting reviews after all :D**


	4. Reach Part II

**AN: *ducks angry mob's various projectiles***

**SORRY! I didn't mean to take this long, but I just couldn't get this chapter to work right. This is...I don't even know what draft anymore. I'm still not quite happy with it, but I had to get _something_ up. :(**

**I hope I didn't lose all my readers...**

* * *

**1500 Hours, August 12, 2552 (Military Calendar) /**

**Epsilon Eridani System, Reach, USS _Odyssey_**

After another Pelican ride back to the shipyard, Landry found himself looking out the hanger of his ship. The _Odyssey_ was surrounded by cranes and gantries, though none of them were working on the ship. The only work that had been done to the _Odyssey_ was examining railgun slugs so the UNSC could produce their own to replace the depleted stocks aboard the cruiser.

Otherwise though, the ship was being left alone at the request of its crew. While they were willing to trade technology with the UNSC, it did not mean they were willing to let them swarm all over the _Odyssey_…at least not yet. So after one final look, Landry turned away from the hanger opening and began to walk deeper into the ship.

It was still as empty as ever, but the noise from the shipyard outside was echoing off the hull, giving the _Odyssey_ a much more lively sound to its halls. In a way, it was like the ship had reached a new home, and was happy about it. As Landry walked through the halls, he didn't bother to try and pick out any individual noises. That would have been an exercise in futility.

But considering the small size of the 304, it didn't take Landry long to reach the bridge. This was where his 'crew' was gathered, ready to discuss the results of his meeting. They stopped talking amongst themselves when the General entered the bridge, and turned to look at him.

"How did it go sir?" Sam asked first.

"They accepted our requests," Landry replied, "though they want to put one of their own crews on the _Odyssey_."

Cam frowned at that, "I don't like the sound of that."

"We don't have much choice in the matter," Sam pointed out, "The _Odyssey_ is heavily automated, but we can't keep running it all on our own."

"Yeah, well I still don't like it."

"Neither do I Colonel, but we just have to put stronger firewalls on the database and the Asgard Core. Speaking of which…Colonel Carter, have you found anything we can trade them in the Core?"

Sam nodded and motioned at one of the consoles. Displayed on the screen were the schematics of a Goa'uld Ha'tak, complete with weapons, shields, and power generators.

"We got lucky Sir. The Asgard included all their data on the Goa'uld in the Core, probably so we could be prepared if the Jaffa or Lucians ever upgraded their ships," the resident scientist explained, "On the plus side, this means we can give the UNSC the Goa'uld's technology, and they wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

Landry nodded, "Good work Colonel. I wasn't comfortable giving them Asgard technology and this will solve that problem."

"And keep us more advanced. Which is good because I don't quite trust them yet," Cam pointed out.

And he wasn't going to get an argument from the rest of the group. While they wanted to help the UNSC, and wanted to be friends with them, they couldn't afford to blindly trust their cousins either. The UNSC was in a desperate place against the Covenant, and everyone knew what desperation did to a person.

Hence the reason that SG-1 was giving the UNSC older Goa'uld tech. While it was still a major improvement on the UNSC's tech base (at least in weapons and shields) it was nothing compared to the latest Asgard tech installed on the 304. The real question mark was how the Goa'uld technology, even with the more powerful UNSC generators, would compare to Covenant technology. From what they had heard about Covenant Slipspace drives, the Goa'uld Hyperdrive would be faster. But if the _Odyssey_ was any indication, it was up in the air how the shields and weapons would compare.

Knowing that thought was likely raging through the heads of her comrades, Sam brought up another schematic. It was the sensor readings that she had made from the damaged Covenant Frigate that they had captured over Sigma Octanus.

"I know what you're thinking. And I've been studying what we were able to glean from that Covenant frigate back at P3X…Sigma Octanus," Sam corrected herself, "This is a small ship by Covenant standards from what the UNSC has told us. But if I had to compare it, I would rank it roughly the same as a _Cheops_ class Mothership like Ra used. A Ha'tak would be roughly equivalent to a Covenant Destroyer."

This time it was Teal'c who spoke up, "These Covenant are powerful if even their smaller warship is the same as a Goa'uld Mothership."

Cam nodded, "Not much of a threat to _us_ considering how much of a beating we can take from the Ori, and we all know what _they_ can do to a Goa'uld ship. But the UNSC, even with Goa'uld shields, are not going to have an easy time of things."

An uneasy silence descended on the bridge. They all realized what this war would expect of them. Even the Goa'uld War couldn't compare. The Covenant were more powerful, and by all indications far _larger_ than the Goa'uld Empire ever was. And the _Odyssey_ was just one ship too. So they had to do everything in their power to help upgrade the UNSC, and do it fast.

It was the only hope this realities version of Humanity had. Even for those of the crew who didn't believe in fate or gods, they knew that it was a god-send for the UNSC that they showed up. And SG-1 would never give up. They would rise to the challenge like they had so many times before, and show the Covenant just what Humanity could do.

* * *

**0915 Hours, August 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /**

**Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Military Complex, planet Reach, Omega Wing—Section **

**Three secure facility**

* * *

Inside the sanctity of her office, Dr. Catherine Halsey sat and looked over the report the ONI Committee had compiled about the Battle of Sigma Octanus. It was highly interesting to put it mildly, especially the 'displaced' ship that had appeared right before the Covenant. The USS _Odyssey_ a ship with a crew who claimed to be from both the past, and a different reality. That alone was enough to get the interest of the scientist in Halsey, but what _truly_ interested her was the technology they possessed.

Shield generators that were more compact, yet far, _far_ more powerful than a similar sized Covenant device. Power generators that put even the ODP Fusion Generators to shame. Not one, but _two_ matter transportation devices. And the weapons…compact beam weapons that could carve clean through Covenant shields, and railguns that, while small, could accelerate a shell far faster than a UNSC variant. And of course, the nukes that made the Shiva look like a firecracker.

All of this left Dr. Halsey _very_ interested in this ship and her crew. They had been tight-lipped about their technology, saying that they would release it to the UNSC once they had made sure it couldn't be misused. And then there was the fact that not even the best cyber warfare specialists in ONI could breach the _Odysseys_ firewalls. It was a mystery, and Halsey loved mysteries.

But she was distracted as the holo-crystals above her desk warmed up to display the avatar of her newest AI, Cortana. Taking the form of a slender young woman, Cortana sat cross-legged on Halsey's desk. The AI looked up at the Doctor with electric blue eyes, data streaming through them.

"Good morning Dr. Halsey," Cortana said 'standing up' on the desk, "I read the Committee's report…"

"Which was classified Eyes-Only," Halsey pointed out.

Cortana gave a fake 'thoughtful' look, "Oh, I must have missed that part."

With that said, she 'jumped' off the desk, and started to walk around Halsey. Cortana was the single most advanced AI in the UNSC, and it showed in her abilities. The main problem was she often grew bored, and a bored Smart AI created havoc in ONI's databanks. Part of Halsey was tempted to set Cortana loose on the _Odyssey's_ firewalls, but she didn't want to alienate the crew of that ship.

Shaking those thoughts, Halsey turned to her pacing AI, "I would assume you have read the classified information from Sigma Octanus IV?"

"I may have seen that somewhere," Cortana deadpanned.

"Your analysis?"

"The Committee has no idea what they found. This Dr. Jackson from the mystery ship though, seems to have a theory that interests me," Cortana replied, the data streaming across her body flashing a deeper blue as she devoted more thought to that statement.

"Oh?" Halsey asked, curious what Cortana was getting at.

Stopping her pacing, Cortana crossed her arms over her chest, "Yes, I know what you are thinking Dr. But Dr. Jackson, if his story is to be believed anyway, has vast experience with numerous alien dialects. And he believes that is what this stone is, writing made by an as yet undiscovered race."

Halsey nodded, "Go on."

"According to Dr. Jackson, it resembles Aztec hieroglyphs, though there is significant enough variation that even dedicated translation programs wouldn't be able to pick it out. He compared it to the difference between Latin and the 'Ancient' language he is familiar with," Cortana said, rattling off the report that Daniel had submitted, "He has yet to translate it completely, but he says he is making progress. I would personally suggest giving him more resources, as his theory makes sense."

"You continue to impress me Cortana. I was going to suggest that very thing to the Committee later today," Halsey said with a small smile, "Now, the final phase of Project MJOLNIR has been approved."

Cortana looked up, a shocked look on her face, "They approved it?"

Halsey nodded again, "Yes, all that remains is incorporating this 'Goa'uld' shield technology into the armor. Coupled with the Covenant shield technology already involved, it increases the strength exponentially."

Nodding slightly, Cortana 'stood' again and walked over to a framed picture on the wall. Standing in it was a handsome man, in a UNSC dress uniform having a medal pinned to his chest.

"I want him to be my Spartan," Cortana said softly.

Halsey frowned, and was ready to argue with Cortana. But she held her tongue. They had more important things to do, than argue about John. And really, who better to protect Cortana than the luckiest Spartan alive?

Setting aside her uneasiness, Halsey sat back down at her desk, "Now, which ship do you propose for this mission?"

An eager look dawned on Cortana's face. Like most Smart AI's, she liked to show off, and Halsey had just given her the option. So Cortana jumped back up on the desk, and projected a model of a bulky ship.

Halsey recognized it right away. It was a _Halcyon_ class UNSC Cruiser.

"The _Pillar of Autumn_," Cortana said.

Halsey let a small frown on her face. There were very, _very_ few modern UNSC cruisers, the _Marathon _class, left. Most were being pulled back to defend the Inner Colonies. However, the _Autumn_ was certainly not one of these powerful ships. It could best be described as an obsolete junk-heap.

"The _Pillar of Autumn_ is forty-three years old," Cortana started to explain, "Halcyon-class ships were the smallest vessel ever to receive the cruiser designation. It is approximately one-third the tonnage of the _Marathon_-class cruiser currently in service."

"_Halcyon_-class ships were pulled from long-term storage—they were designated to be scrapped, in fact. The _Autumn_ was refit in 2550, to serve in the current conflict near Zeta Doradus. Their Mark Two fusion engines supply a tenth of the power of modern reactors. Their armor is light by current standards. Weapon refits have upgraded their offensive capabilities with a single Magnetic Acceleration Cannon and six Archer missile pods."

"The only real noteworthy feature is the frame," Cortana continued to rattle off facts about the old ship, "The ship is riddled with honeycombs, and cross-bracing. This makes the _Halcyon-_class legendary in durability. There are reports of battles against the Covenant where they lose up to 90% of their armor and remain functional. And with the shields coming into production based on the _Odyssey's_ designs, this ship will be nearly indestructible."

"Service record?" Halsey asked, deliberately ignoring the mention of the shields, and how Cortana knew what even Halsey didn't (SG-1 giving over the designs).

"Very substandard," Cortana replied, "Slow and ineffective in combat, they are a joke in the fleet."

"Perfect," Halsey said, "I concur with your selection. Refit will begin at once, though she'll need a crew."

"Who do you recommend Dr.?" Cortana asked.

Halsey sent Cortana a set of files, which the AI skimmed over in less than a second. A frown grew on her otherwise pretty face.

"He used no AI at Sigma Octanus?" Cortana asked, a bit of hesitation entering her question.

"That was for technical reasons, he has no problems with working with computers. And he has the most important qualification for the job…the man can keep a secret," Halsey pointed out, "And the _Autumn_ is just the distraction…the main push in Operation: RED FLAG will be the _Odyssey_…"

* * *

**AN: I hope you all enjoyed this. I can't make any promises, but I really hope that it doesn't take as long for the next update.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I am _truly sorry_ it took this long. A combination of no time to write and not enough ideas flowing. But I have a chapter up now, even if it is rather short compared to the older ones.**

* * *

**0800 Hours, August 27, 2552 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Eridani System, FLEETCOM Military Complex, planet Reach**

* * *

Colonel Samantha Carter walked into the large meeting room at the UNSC's main base on Reach. It had been decided that she would be the _Odyssey's_ representative at the meeting, as she could best explain any technical details. But it meant that she wasn't quite expecting the sight before her. Standing in the meeting room was a large group of men and women. But that wasn't the odd thing…what was odd was the fact that all of them made even Teal'c look average.

Even the shortest member of this group was taller than even the tallest man Sam had ever seen. And their muscle tone made Teal'c's look like tissue paper. All in all, these 'people' were a very intimidating presence. Sam would have been worried if her UNSC counterpart, Catherine Halsey, hadn't whispered in her ear.

_"These are my Spartan's Colonel,"_ the other woman said, _"Our greatest weapon, and our last hope. They are the ones that this mission hinges on."_

After saying that, Halsey walked past Sam towards the podium set up at the center of the stage. Sam took a seat next to the podium, beside Captain Keyes. The two soldiers turned to look out at the Spartans while Halsey began the briefing.

"Assembled here are all surviving Spartans save Red and Gray teams," Halsey began, "Admiral Stanforth has asked me to brief you on the upcoming mission. Due to its complexity you are to disregard your normal protocol and ask any questions that are needed. Now…our first order of business: the Covenant."

After Halsey finished saying that a holographic representation of Covenant ships and races appeared on either side of her. Sam noticed the Spartans tense ever so slightly…she would have done the same if a holographic Replicator or Goa'uld symbiote had been displayed. Years of fighting did that to someone. But having already read up on Halsey's speech, Sam tuned it out and mentally went over her own contribution to the meeting.

She only actually gave her attention when Halsey reached the part about the Prophets. Sam had found that part of the Covenant hierarchy interesting, as it reminded her of what they knew of the Wraith. The Prophets functioned in much the same role as the Queens, leading the 'lesser' races/castes and generally acting superior to the others.

The only difference here seemed to be that the Prophets were postulated as their own distinct race. Which brought to mind the Goa'uld, especially with the appearances of the Prophets being religious figures as much as they were leaders. All in all, Sam couldn't get the comparisons out of her head, and it was something to look at more closely for sure. But her attention was drawn to Halsey again, as she went into detail on the mission itself.

"Now, the original plan was to engage the Covenant and disable one of their ships, whereupon you all would capture the ship and after making sufficient repairs, use it to infiltrate the Covenant capital," Halsey said, wiping her glasses before she continued, "However, thanks to our new friends on the _Odyssey_ we were able to capture a couple Covenant ships at Sigma Octanus. One of them, a frigate that the Covenant called _Eternal Faith_ is being retrofitted for this mission as we speak. I will let Colonel Carter of the _Odyssey_ explain that."

Halsey stepped away from the podium, motioning Sam forward. The blonde Colonel smoothed out wrinkles on her blue Air Force uniform, and walked up to the podium. She knew her outfit was getting curious looks, but with it being several centuries out of date…that was to be expected. Clearing her throat, Sam began her part of the briefing.

"I am Colonel Samantha Carter of the United States Air Force," Sam began, and immediately a hand went up in the crowd. Sam wasn't as familiar with the other services insignia, especially after 500 years of evolution…but she had done some brushing up, "Yes Master Chief?"

The massive man asked a question, his voice surprisingly soft considering his size, "You said you are a member of the United States military…that isn't possible. The United States was dissolved centuries ago."

Sam smiled slightly…evidently they hadn't been privy to what had happened, "That is true yes. However, I am from an alternate timeline. Where Earth has been space fairing since the early 21st century. I myself am from 2007, and am only here through a malfunction in my ship. The relevant information is being sent to your barracks."

The Master Chief looked dubious at that answer, but didn't ask another question. Sam took that as her cue to continue, "The _Eternal Faith_ is being retrofit with the technology from the _Odyssey_ as we speak. This is to give the crew a greater chance to escape at the end of the mission…the goal of which is simple. Capture the Prophets, and bring them back to UNSC space."

Again the hand raised, and again Sam nodded her assent.

"Capture the Prophets? Not kill them?" the Master Chief asked.

Sam nodded again, "That is what I have been told. If the Covenant is anything like what I've been told, they would most likely escalate the war if their leaders were killed. So the goal is to bring them here, _alive_, to be used to broker a peace deal."

With that said, Halsey stood back up. Sam knew her part wasn't done, but the Doctor deserved to ask the next question.

"I know some of you already suspect this…but the cold truth is we, humanity, are losing this war. ONI predicts we have a few months, maybe a year at most, until the Inner Colonies have fallen and the Covenant move on Earth," Halsey said softly, "Your mission is the hope we have to counter this. It is considered extremely high risk. Because of this, we are not ordering anyone on this mission. We are asking for volunteers only."

But Halsey knew she didn't need to say that. As one, all the Spartans stood ramrod straight, and stared right at her. If it were anyone else, Halsey would be intimidated. Instead, she needed to hold back tears…she could always rely on her Spartans, even if she hated putting them at so much risk.

"Very good. Thank you," Halsey said, motioning Sam forward once more.

Moving back to the podium, Sam started talking again, "Now, the way this mission will succeeded depends entirely on your survivability. To this end, I have been given permission by my commanding officer to show you all the technology that will help you survive this mission."

The holograms that had previously shown the Covenant ships and races faded and turned into a large representation of a tear-drop shaped Covenant Frigate with several areas outlined in red. As near as the Spartans could tell, the weapons, engines, and shield generators were all marked out.

"To capture the _Faith_, it was necessary to disable nearly everything aboard the vessel. To that end, the engines, power systems, weapons, and shields have all been replaced with technology from my world. The shields and weapons are based on technology of a race called the Goa'uld," Sam began, "Instead of plasma torpedoes, it is armed with large plasma cannons, and the shields are now a bubble shield with far more efficient energy absorption."

A video of two Goa'uld Ha'taks in combat (taken during one of the many battles against Anubis) was shown in place of the _Faith_. Golden bolts and shields were show in extreme detail, letting the Spartan's know just what had replaced the familiar Covenant technology. Some shock was registered on their faces, military indoctrination aside. After all, the closest they had seen to the Goa'uld weapons were the pulse turrets that the Covenant used to make Archer missiles so ineffective. But it was nothing like the scale of the pyramidal warships weaponry.

After letting that sink in, Sam moved on to the engines and powerplant, "Perhaps more importantly however, we have replaced the Covenant power systems and slipspace drive. The power systems have been replaced with rudimentary Naquadah reactors. Naquadah is a special mineral that gives Nuclear reactions several times their normal power, and even a small generator is more powerful than even the largest standard powerplants. This is currently the only ship in the UNSC fleet that has this reactor, as we have been unable to find large supplies of Naquadah."

Letting them absorb that information, Sam moved on, "As for the engines…the slipspace reactor was toast. So we have replaced it with a Hyperdrive. To keep things simple, a Hyperdrive is a jumped up slipspace drive at its most basic level. It works by punching a hole into subspace, and keeping a 'tunnel' of sorts open for the ship inside. With enough power, a Hyperdrive can get between here and the Pegasus galaxy in three weeks. Or even faster, if the ship has the power. With what we can put in the _Faith_, we believe it can get to the heart of Covenant space in a matter of hours."

Even the Spartan's were shocked at that level of speed. Not even the Covenant could go that fast. But they held any questions, as Sam didn't give them much chance.

"The rest of the technological changes are related to Project MJONIR. As that is Dr. Halsey's project, she will be explaining it to you all individually over the next few days. That is all."

* * *

**High Charity, Ninth Age of Reclamation**

* * *

Floating in orbit of a barren world was a massive structure. Resembling a giant mushroom, it was truly gigantic, dwarfing the hundreds of warships surrounding it. High Charity, the capital of the Covenant Empire. Floating around it were the hundreds of ships of its escorting fleets, looking like gnats circling the 'city'.

Inside the massive structure, sat the large Forerunner Dreadnought, the ship that had brought about the formation of the city and the Covenant that called it home. And at the moment, it played host to a meeting among the High Prophets and an unfortunate Sanghelli Shipmaster.

"Tell me Shipmaster…how is it that you're ship was the only one to return to us from the Human world?" the High Prophet of Truth asked, crossing his fingers under his sagging chin.

The Shipmaster looked (justifiably) worried as he answered, "The Humans had a new weapon Prophets. A miniscule ship that the Fleetmaster wrote off as a transport at best."

Looking up at the Prophets, the Shipmaster got a nod to continue, "However, this vessel had a new slipspace drive of some sort. It was able to make a jump above our fleet and attack with a plasma weapon."

The Prophet of Regret interrupted the Shipmaster, "A _plasma_ weapon? The Humans have never shown the knowledge in their pitiful brains to make plasma weaponry. Are you certain it was not a trick?"

The Shipmaster shook his head, "It was no trick Prophets. The weapon tore through our shields and hulls at a level not even our plasma torpedoes could match. The closest weapon we have is the Energy Projectors on the Carriers, and this vessel was far too small to mount one."

"Interesting," the Prophet of Mercy said, "This is a new tactic for the Humans. They have always tried to use their primitive technology and never show any desire to change it. To suddenly be using new slipspace drives and plasma weaponry is very interesting indeed."

Truth nodded, "Indeed. Can you tell us anything further Shipmaster?"

The Sanghelli looked surprised the Prophets weren't angrier, but thanked the Forerunners for his luck before replying, "The vessel was unlike any human design I have previously seen. It was sleek and small, with no sign of their primitive cannons. It was faster and more agile than anything outside of human fighter craft, and seemed to possess a blue energy shield though so few of our attacks hit I cannot be certain."

"Shielding too?" Regret said, "By the Forerunners was one of our warships captured?"

Truth held up a hand to calm his fellow Prophet, "Possibly. If so, the crew will never see the Great Journey. We will have to adjust our plans to account for this eventuality. You shall return to your vessel Shipmaster and prepare to scout the Human world again."

"As you command Prophet," the Shipmaster said, bowing deeply before leaving the Dreadnought.

As the Sanghelli left, Mercy turned to his younger counterpart, "You are sending him to his death."

Truth nodded, "Of course. The knowledge that the Humans can equal our technology cannot be allowed to spread. A heresy is the last thing we need or desire."

After saying that, Truth moved to a console in the back of the room. This had been set to monitor any transmissions from the probe that one of the destroyed vessels had been carrying. The hope was that the device would attach to a human vessel and gather data on everywhere it had been before jettisoning and heading back to Covenant space.

However, the console had never come to life. Truth had already figured out what that meant of course, as he was far from a figure head. He had a cunning mind, and the only reason that a Forerunner console would not work is if the device it was connected to had been destroyed.

"It would appear that the tracking device failed," the Prophet said, turning away from the console, "No matter…it only buys the Humans a little extra time. Our next operation is well underway. Have you finished translating the Holy Stone?"

This was directed at Mercy, who nodded his aging head, "Yes I have. The coordinates are to a system deep in Human territory. I do not believe it is one of their worlds however. It is too far from any of their confirmed holdings."

"Interesting. Prepare a small fleet nonetheless. I do not want any surprises on such an important task," Truth said, "The Holy Crystal is on this world, and it is needed for the Great Journey to commence."

The other two Prophets nodded their heads. Truth was correct as always. Even more so, since they now knew the Humans to possess advanced technology. Where they had gotten it was a mystery, but the Covenant would not falter. The Humans would never have the chance to reclaim the Forerunner Legacy. That was reserved for the Covenant, their loyal followers since the day they had seen the stars. And nothing would stop them from fulfilling their goals. It was only a matter of time till the Covenant found the Holy Rings and began the Great Journey. Only a matter of time…


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I'm surprised I got this up so quick. And surprised how long it is. Hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

**0600 hours, August 29, 2552 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Eridani System, UNSC Military Installation 0168-B, Planet Reach**

Once again in a UNSC base, Colonel Sam Carter fidgeted with her new uniform. The stock aboard the _Odyssey_ was sufficient, but it had been decided to start wearing UNSC uniforms when possible. While they hadn't _technically_ joined the future-military, the crew of the 304 had realized that wearing the other uniforms at least gave them some extra authority. Fewer people would question an order from a UNSC Colonel, than a USAF one after all.

That wasn't a problem in this case though, as Sam was here as the SGC technological adviser again. In this case it was for the changes to Project MJOLNIR. And she was just waiting on the Spartan who had asked her the questions at the meeting, whom she had since learned was named John. A very average name, for a far from average man. Sam and the rest of SG-1 had read the files of all the Spartans, and they made even their own adventures look minor in comparison. Though the methods used to create them…still gave her a sick feeling. Using children like that…it was one of the main reasons that the crew of the _Odyssey_ had changed their minds on 'joining' the UNSC military. They would help, but they couldn't join when ONI still was willing to do things like the Spartan-II program. At least Halsey was genuinely regretful…Sam could tell the Doctor was constantly in emotional pain over what she had done to the Spartans. And that redeemed her somewhat.

But the object of her musings had arrived, lead by an older man in a Doctors uniform. The unnaturally pale giant slightly narrowed his eyes when he saw Sam in the UNSC uniform, but didn't say anything. It did look like he had to physically stop himself from instinctively saluting though. To be expected really…when one is raised from childhood in the military, it was quite likely saluting a man or woman in a higher ranked uniform was far more than second-nature to the Spartan. Shrugging slightly, Sam watched as he removed his uniform and lay down on the cot that had been set up for this purpose.

Dr. Halsey chose this moment to walk in and explain what they were doing, "This will just take a moment Master Chief. We're going to upgrade a few components in your neural-interface. Lie back and remain still please."

Sam watched as the Master Chief, John, did as he was told. She couldn't stop an involuntary shudder as she watched the incisions made on his neck though. Unbidden, memories of attempts to remove Goa'uld symbiotes returned to her mind. It took a concerted effort to push those memories back, mostly thanks to the 'clicking' noises that signified the fact this was modifying technology. Sam's scientific mind took over, noting the design of the neural interface for later. After the giant of a man got back to his feet, Dr. Halsey lead them into another room. Inside was an equally massive suit of armor.

Sam had only seen pictures of the MJONIR armor until this point, and seeing it in person was quite a different experience. The dull-green armor was bulky, and had a large backpack, that Sam knew housed a miniature fusion reactor. This armor was easily the best she had seen, even the Kull Warriors hadn't had it this good, aside from the energy absorption. Turning her eyes away as John disrobed again and put the armor on, Sam prepared her explanation in her head.

After Halsey had finished explaining the UNSC changes to the design, Sam started her own part.

"In addition to the changes that Doctor Halsey explained, we added some technology from my world," the Colonel began, "For starters, we added a Goa'uld shield generator into your right gauntlet. By pressing a switch located on your wrist, it activates the device."

As Sam finished saying that, the Spartan pressed said switch. The form-hugging modified Jackal shield turned off, as power was diverted from the reactor to the modified Goa'uld hand device built into the MJOLNIR. As the device activated, a shimmering golden field sprang up around John, the circular shield glowing around his body.

"This shield is far different from the 'Jackal' shield that was used for the rest of your armor. The Goa'uld shield theoretically has no limits to what it can stop, aside from power limitations," Sam explained, "the more energy and momentum and object has, the better this shield is at stopping it…within its power limitations anyway. So a bullet or plasma bolt won't be able to penetrate no matter how many are fired at it. But a sufficiently big explosion, or slow projectile, a knife for instance, will be able to penetrate fairly easily."

John nodded before asking the obvious question, "Does it restrict my movement?"

Sam nodded herself, "Unfortunately yes. Using this shield leaves you stuck in one place. So it is only useful if you are under heavy fire and need to use it to fight back from a stationary position. It _is_ possible to shoot a weapon from within the shield, so it could be used to cover an advance."

John nodded again. His mind was already going over the tactical implications of this new shield. The idea of being able to just 'stand and take it like a man' was something he had never considered. Either from Innies or Covenant, he had always been drilled to avoid enemy fire, not soak it up. So most of him doubted that this 'Goa'uld' shield would see much use. Though he wasn't stupid…it had its uses. It would just take an adjustment of his tactics, much like adjusting to the main shield system.

Deactivating the Goa'uld device, John caught an oddly shaped pistol that Sam had tossed at him. The weapon looked small in his hands, and truly was a strange sight. It looked like a carved snake, not a gun of any sort. Looking up quizzingly, John saw a grin on Sam's face.

"That," Sam said, holding up a similar weapon in her own hand, "is a Zat'nik'tel. Or just Zat for short."

"Zat?"

"A Goa'uld energy pistol. It shoots a bolt of energy that resembles electricity. A single shot is able to knock down most any organism, while the second is almost universally deadly. We don't have a large stock of these weapons aboard the _Odyssey_, but they can take down the Prophets with a smaller risk of killing them. Unless they are unusually frail, the first bolt will do no more than knock them out like a light. So we're giving what we have to your team."

After saying that, Sam flicked her own Zat open, making sure to show the Spartan how it was done. She then pointed it at a target set up for just this purpose. Firing a single shot, a flash of blue 'lightning' shot out from the snake-shaped weapon. Since it wasn't a living target, Sam didn't bother with the second shot. Turning back to John, she shrugged slightly.

"Not much range on them, but very useful weapons really. I can't tell you the number of times these have saved my life," the Colonel from the past said with a small smile, "but that's it from my end. Dr. Halsey can handle the rest."

After saying that, Sam stepped back and let Dr. Halsey move forward. Sending a small smile of her own at the displaced Colonel, Halsey held up a small crystal that glowed with a faint blue-purple light. Sam knew what it was, having seen one in the 'cultural files' the UNSC had provided. The memory core of an Artificial Intelligence.

_Interesting…so small…_ the Colonel thought, thinking back on her own encounters with AI…like the Replicators.

"I doubt you've ever seen one of these before," Halsey said, speaking to John, "It's the memory-processor core of an AI."

"Like Déjà?"

"Yes, though she is far more advanced. This is Cortana."

Having raised his visor by this point, John raised an eyebrow at Halsey before looking around the room. Obviously he didn't see anything that would normally relate to an AI, like computer equipment. Halsey knew what he was looking for, and explained.

"The modifications to your neural net were to allow Cortana to interface with it," the Doctor said, "There is a new layer of memory-processor super-conductor implanted into your armors biolayers."

John knew that was the same material used in an AI's core. Which must mean…

"Yes, the MJONIR will carry Cortana," Halsey said, seemingly reading John's mind, "The original design had nearly the same capacity of a ship-board AI suite. With some modifications courtesy of Colonel Carter…it can match even our largest warships. Cortana will interface between you and the suit and provide tactical and strategic information in the field."

After that, Sam mostly tuned out what was said. She had already had this explained to her as she had modified the MJONIR. Though John's resistance to the prospect was somewhat surprising. Then again, Jack hadn't wanted Sam on the team since she had been just and 'egghead' to him at the time…so maybe the Spartans reluctance made some amount of sense.

She looked up again when a small 'pop' announced that Cortana had been 'inserted' into the Master Chief's suit.

"Hmm…surprisingly roomy in here," Cortana's voice echoed through the Spartan's speakers, "Hello Master Chief."

If anything, John looked uncomfortable. Then again, he _did_ have a woman in his head essentially. Though he answered quite calmly all things considered.

"Hello Cortana."

"I'm detecting a high level of cerebral cortex activity…you aren't the muscle bound automatons they make you out to be," the AI said with a bit of a cheerful tone to her voice.

"You'll have to forgive Cortana…she can be somewhat…high-spirited," Halsey broke in.

"Yes ma'am," John replied, sounding a bit relieved at the change in conversation.

"Now, we should begin the tests straight-away. There is no better way for you two to get acquainted than through simulated combat."

"No one mentioned combat," Cortana chimed in.

"The ONI brass have arranged a test for you and the modified MJONIR," Halsey explained, "They want to make sure you are up to the mission."

"Ma'am!" John snapped to attention, "I am ready for this mission ma'am!"

Halsey smiled slightly, "I know you are John. ONI…requires proof. Stay on your guard, I think some of them _want_ you to fail. Be prepared for anything."

"I understand ma'am," John said with a nod

"Master Chief, you are ordered to count to ten after I leave. After that, there is an obstacle course you are required to run. At the other end of the course is a bell you have to ring," Halsey said, breaking her previous whispering tone, "You are authorized to neutralize any threats."

"Understood," John replied simply.

Halsey nodded and walked out with Sam. The two women went to observe the challenge. They watched the ODST's move into the tent, rifles raised. If they didn't know better, they would be worried for John. Halsey was well-aware what her Spartans were capable of, especially John. And Sam knew what that armor could do. So neither of them worried overly much in this case. Which was proved to be correct when the tent came fluttering down around the Spartan. John quickly swung the pole from the tent, taking out the legs of three Marines. Even from their distance Sam could hear the bones shatter…and she winced slightly. While they would survive, it would take serious work to get those Marines back to normal. And it was quite likely that two of the remaining three wouldn't even survive after what the Spartan did to them.

After taking the Marines down, Sam watched as the Spartan moved to a gravel pit. It seemed safe enough, until John threw a grenade to the center of the gravel. The relatively small explosion set off two massive secondary detonations.

_Mines..._

But Sam didn't need to worry. Cortana had managed to use the explosions and standard UNSC minefield layouts to make a safe path. While it was slow going, John walked through the gravel without setting off a single mine. He then took out a set of chainguns, only taking a small smattering of hits. It was very impressive to watch, but things were about to get worse for him.

Down on the obstacle course, John felt Cortana return to his head. The AI had taken a detour to find out what was going on at the nearby Fairchild Airbase, and had returned from that.

"I just accessed SATCOM," the calm female voice said, "There's a SkyHawk jump-jet inbound from Fairchild field."

John stopped…could his suit withstand that type of firepower? It was very doubtful, if not impossible. Shaking his head of these thoughts, John ran. He knew he had to get through the rest of the course, and quick if he was going to avoid that fighter. He jumped onto the Pillars of Loki, somehow managing to move a half-ton of man and armor through the small poles, and quickly too. But not fast enough. A dot on the horizion grew quickly into the form of the SkyHawk, which opened fire with its 50mm cannons. The shells tore through the wooden poles, and took out a quarter of John's shield.

Realizing he couldn't take another pass, John through all caution to the wind and _ran_ through the traps set up in the Pillars. He didn't slow down, even with napalm and sonic grenades going off all around him. Turning around, John realized that the jet would reach him before he could possibly escape.

Turning fully, John whispered in his helmet, "Cortana, I'll need your help."

"Anything," she whispered back…a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"I need you to shunt all, _all_ of the power from the reactor to the Goa'uld shield when I tell you to," John explained, "I can't outrun the missile, or dodge it. We need to rely on the Colonel's word with the shield."

"I'm ready," Cortana replied, a real note of worry in her voice now, "I hope you know what you're doing."

"So do I."

John held a hand near the switch on his right gauntlet. He watched as the SkyHawk finished its turn, and a plume of white smoke extended from its wingtip. He watched as the Scorpion missile came screaming at his body. He watched as the silvery casing of the missile grew to fill his visor…until…

"NOW!"

John flipped the switch at the same instant that Cortana channeled all the power to the alien shield. The familiar golden shimmer surrounded John an instant before the missile would have hit. The warhead slammed into the golden barrier, detonating in a spectacular flash of orange light. John could feel the force of the explosion through the shield…but by some miracle it held. Warning sirens blared through his suit, as the reactor tried to recover from the amount of power it had used. John's movements felt sluggish as the shield deactivated, his suit barely able to compensate.

"Run Chief!" Cortana shouted, "They'll come back to make sure they get us this time!"

The AI didn't need to tell him twice. John ran as fast as he could for the bell, ringing it. The sweet sound was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

Halsey's voice broke over the COM channel, ruining the moment, _"Call off your men Colonel Ackerson! We've won. Well done Master Chief…stay there, I'm sending in a recovery team."_

"Thank you Cortana…I couldn't have done it without you," John said.

"You're welcome Master Chief," Cortana replied, before her voice gained a mischievous tone, "And no, you couldn't have done it without me. Though we'll want to say thanks to Colonel Carter for that shield."

* * *

**0400 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /**

**UNS _Pillar of Autumn _, in orbit around Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex**

Captain Keyes tapped the thrusters of the shuttle pod _Coda _. The tiny craft rolled and the _Pillar of Autumn _came into view. Normally, Captains did not ferry themselves around the space docks of Reach, but Keyes had insisted. All unauthorized personnel were restricted to a narrow flight path around the _Pillar of Autumn _, and he wanted to take a careful look around the outside of this ship before he took command.

Though it wasn't his ship that caught his eye at first. Floating next to the _Autumn_ was a Covenant Frigate, the purple vessel nearly as large as the human cruiser. That had to be the _Eternal Faith_, as the other captured Covenant vessels were being torn apart to study them. And next to it was the familiar, and small, form of the _Odyssey_. Shuttles and work drones flew back and forth between the three vessels, obviously ferrying men and supplies to finish the refitting of the larger two ships.

As Keyes nimbly maneuvered his shuttle threw the swarms of small craft, he got a closer view of the _Autumn_. The old vessel showed numerous signs of her age; rust-streaks spread over the hull, scorch marks from old battles still marred the armor, her engine baffles were blackened from hard use…it made Keyes wonder what he had signed up for.

Moving his shuttle closer to the hull, his sharp eyes picked out odd details. There were multiple weapon emplacements that looked unfamiliar to him. They looked almost like domes, sealed over by heavy armor. But a closer look showed that they had hatches to allow a weapon to extend from the hull.

"Those must be the 'staff cannons'," Keyes muttered, as he continued to examine the hull of his ship.

He picked out plating over the starboard docking bay that on closer inspection, was shown to be honeycombed. The hatches were the size of a standard Archer missile, giving away the reason the bay had been plated over. The _Autumn_ had enough missiles to rival any true cruiser. Keyes nodded appreciatively to himself at that…it gave him more tactical options than expected. Nosing his shuttle towards the stern of the _Autumn_, Keyes saw smaller engines that weren't standard for a _Halcyon_ class cruiser. He assumed those were the Hyperdrive engines that had been 'slapped on' to use Colonel Carter's terminology. They looked quite small in comparison to the standard engines, but he would reserve judgment, considering he had seen what the equally small _Odyssey_ was capable of.

Angling his shuttle 'down', Keyes saw that the 50mm mounts he had been expecting had been replaced with weapons that looked like old-style Phalanx CIWS. Most likely the railguns that were just now coming into production. And if what he had heard was true, they could even be useful against shieldless capital ships, let alone the speedy Seraph fighters.

Moving past the railguns, the accelerator coils for the _Autumn's_ single MAC came into view. They were small, but seemed like they hadn't been modified in the same way as the rest of the ship had. That worried Keyes, as the MAC was indisputably the main weapon of his new vessel. But perhaps, like the hatches, it was more than it seemed. Keyes certainly hoped so, as he moved his shuttle towards the port docking bay.

Sitting inside the bay were three Longsword fighters, and three Pelican dropships. The familiar shapes were something of a relief after the extensive modifications to the _Autumn_. Though one of the Pelican's had what looked like a serrated titanium ram mounted to its prow. As he landed his shuttle, Keyes felt it lowered down to the actual hangar deck. Once there, he grabbed his duffel bag and exited the shuttle.

Lieutenant Hikowa was there to greet him, saluting as she said, "Welcome aboard Captain."

Keyes returned the salute, "What do you think of her Lieutenant?"

"You're not going to believe this ship sir," Hikowa replied, her normally stoic face showing a brilliant smile, "they've turned her into something special."

"Like my starboard shuttle bay?" Keyes remarked sourly.

"That's just the start, I can give you a full tour," Hikowa replied.

"Please," Keyes said back, motioning Hikowa forward.

The Lieutenant lead the Captain to an elevator, before pressing the button for D-deck. As the lift started to move, Hikowa turned to her Captain. She was going to start the 'tour' right away evidently.

"At first," she said, "I was concerned with all the ordnance on board. One penetrating shot and we could explode like a string of firecrackers. But this ship doesn't have much empty space—it's full of braces, honeycombed titanium-A, and hydraulic reinforcements that can be activated in an emergency. And that isn't even counting the modifications made with the technology from the _Odyssey_. She can take a tremendous beating sir.

"Let's hope we don't have to test that," Keyes said dryly, making sure he still had his pipe.

As the elevator moved through the ship, Keyes mentally prepared himself for the feeling of vertigo from passing through the rotating section of the ship. But it never came, and the Captain sent a questioning look at Hikowa.

"Artificial gravity. One of our 'gifts'," she answered the unspoken question.

Keyes nodded as the doors opened and they entered the cavernous engine room. The ceiling was four stories high, easily making this the largest compartment in the ship. Catwalks and platforms ringed the hexagonal chamber on all sides.

"There's the new reactor sir," Hikowa added, as she pointed at the center of the room.

Perched within a lattice of nonferric ceramic and leaded crystal, the main reactor ring was nestled in the center of what appeared to be two smaller reactor rings. Technicians moved around nearby, taking readings and monitoring the output displays on the walls.

"I'm not familiar with this design, Lieutenant."

"The latest reactor technology. The _Pillar of Autumn_ is the first ship to get it. The two smaller fusion reactors come online to supercharge the main reactor. Their overlapping magnetic fields can temporarily boost power by three hundred percent. If we add naquadah, the reaction can jump to as much as five hundred percent."

Captain Keyes whistled appreciatively as he scrutinized the room, "I don't see any coolant pipes."

"There are none sir. This reactor uses a laser-induced optical slurry of ions chilled to near-absolute zero to neutralize the waste heat. The more we crank up the power, the more juice we have to cool the system. It is very efficient."

Captain Keyes removed his pipe and tapped it in his palm. He would have to rethink the old tactics. This new engine was highly impressive. There were many more options available to him now.

"There's more sir," Hikowa broke into his thoughts, leading Keyes back to the lift, "We have fifty of the new railguns for point defense, with overlapping fields of fire covering all inbound vectors. Nothing is getting close enough to strafe the _Autumn_ with those intact."

Keyes nodded, "Tell me about the MAC gun. It looks under-powered."

"It fires a special light round with a ferrous core, but an outer layer of tungsten carbide. The round splinters on impact—like an assault rifles shredder rounds," she was talking so fast she had to pause and take a deep breath, "This gun has magnetic field recyclers along the length that recapture the field energy. Coupled with booster capacitors we can fire _three_ successive shots with one charge."

Keyes didn't need to be a genius to know how effective that would be against Covenant shields. The first shots, maybe the first two shots, would take down the shields. The last round would gut whatever was left.

"And the staff cannons?" Keyes asked after thinking about the tactical uses for the new MAC.

"Set up across the hull, we have twenty of them sir," Hikowa replied, "From my understanding, they won't take down a Covenant Cruiser on their own, but coupled with the MAC they provide a large amount of firepower to be concentrated on several targets."

Keyes nodded, "I take it you approve?"

"To quote Ensign Lovell sir, 'I think I'm in love'."

Captain Keyes nodded again, "Tell me about our single-ship complement. I saw several Longswords and Pelicans in the docking bay."

"We have a standard complement of Longswords and Pelicans sir, along with the first prototype of the 'X-301' that the dockyards just finished building. One of the Longswords is remote controlled and armed with a Shiva, and we have three naquadah-enhanced HAVOK mines aboard," Hikowa replied.

"And the 'modified' Pelican?"

"The Spartans got her and modified it for their mission sir."

"Are the Spartans already aboard?"

"They were sir, but they left to receive the final upgrades to their suits," Hikowa replied.

Keyes nodded…he would have to talk to the Spartans after they returned. It was important that this mission succeeded. So very important…


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Sorry it took so long again. I've been spending a _lot_ of time doing research to make certain I've got everything right :P**

**That being said, while I still believe that the railguns are, if not better, at least _equal_ to the equivalent UNSC weapons, I have replaced them with horridly outdated Asgard weapons. Not anywhere near the level of the Beam O' Death aboard the _Odyssey_, but still powerful enough to swat fighters from the 'sky'. I hope that works better for everyone :D**

**And now, on to the chapter...big changes are ahead now that we are leaving the 'Reach Arc' ;)**

* * *

**1200 Hours****, September 10, 2552 (Military Calendar) /**

**Staging Ground for UNSC Battlegroup Keyes, Epsilon Eridani System, orbit of Reach Military Complex**

In distant orbit of planet Reach, floated a large group of UNSC warships. Made up mostly _Charon_ class light-frigates and _Lepizig_ class destroyers, it wasn't an impressive fleet even by pre-war standards. Of course, that was if one compared it to Covenant vessels, and used the old technology of the UNSC. However, these ships were unique. They made up Battlegroup Keyes and were the leading edge of the new UNSC Navy. Refitted with Goa'uld shields and weapons, and in some cases (such as the _Autumn_) obsolete Asgard weaponry retrofitted into point-defense weapons.

These ships were, pound-for-pound, more powerful than their Covenant equivalents. For the first time in the long war against the genocidal aliens…the crews of these vessels genuinely believed they could win any fight they were thrown into. Even in the now obsolete standard ships, the UNSC Navy had managed to take down Covenant ships…with the new technology beginning to filter its way through the ranks, the crews felt that the Covenant were the ones who were outmatched in technology now. And they took a savage sense of pride from that.

Thus, the crews were waiting with baited breath for the orders to come down from command to launch RED FLAG. This was their best chance at ending the war quickly, and they were proud to be selected for this mission. The only reason they hadn't launched the attack yet was the two missing ships that should have been floating by the flagship, UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_. The missing ships were the USS _Odyssey_ and UNSC _Eternal Faith_. The time-traveling human corvette, and retrofitted Covenant frigate were playing the role typically assigned to prowlers…scouting out the Covenant territory, and looking for their homeworld.

"Still no word from the _Odyssey_ or _Eternal Faith_?" Captain Keyes asked his crew.

"No sir, nothing on standard channels or the new communication systems," Lieutenant Hall replied, her headset filled with nothing but static and inter-fleet traffic.

Keyes nodded and absently tapped his pipe on his command chair. It had been several days now since the two ships, the fastest in his fleet, had gone on their scouting missions. And he couldn't help but worry. While the _Odyssey_ had proved itself over Sigma Octanus, and in fleet wargames (outmatching anything the UNSC could throw at it)…it was still a small ship, and if they came across the likes of a Covenant Supercarrier, they stood little chance of survival. He worried even more for the crew of the _Faith_. The captured Covenant ship would quickly become Priority Target One to the Covenant, knowing how they reacted to even minor technology falling into UNSC hands.

"Keep monitoring the channels Lieutenant," Keyes ordered, "let me know the moment they return."

As Keyes stood up to observe his crew, the holostation came to life, Cortana's blue-purple avatar flickering on the platform. The AI looked typically cocky and unworried, but Captain Keyes doubted anything really phased her. She truly was like a much younger Catherine Halsey, without the Doctors more refined personality.

"I wouldn't worry Captain," the AI said, "if anyone can handle those aliens it's the _Odyssey_. I should know, I've looked at every bit of technology they've given us and extrapolated that…"

Keyes held up a hand, "Yes I know Cortana. You have told me before that the 'Goa'uld' technology they gave us if far inferior to what that ship has aboard."

The AI looked rather put-out at being cutoff, before brightening again, "Which reminds me. I have finished the modifications you wanted me to make to the Goa'uld staff cannons. I believe they are now twice as effective as they were when we first received them. Should be a rather nasty surprise to the Covenant."

"Good job Cortana. See if you can do something about the point-defense weapons. I'm not satisfied with their performance."

"Right away sir."

With that, the AI vanished from her pedestal, leaving Keyes alone with his crew again. Cortana was brilliant, but she did grate on the nerves occasionally. So Keyes let out a barely audible sigh as he moved for the hatch. He needed to talk with the rest of the crew, and figure out just how ready they truly were. Between the unfamiliar technology scattered on the _Autumn_ and the gravity of the situation…it was needed.

Exiting the hatch, Keyes immediately saw marines and sailors walking through the halls of the _Autumn_. The ship had a full crew, and they were busy making sure the vessel was prepared for the battles ahead of it.

"Captain on deck!" one of the marines shouted, saluting after moving his MA5C to his other arm.

Keyes nodded at the man, not failing to notice his weapon. The new version of the venerable MA5 series was developed when the SGC group had seen examples of fights against the Covenant. They had noticed what the UNSC had noticed decades ago…to get through even a Jackal's shield took nearly a full 60 round clip from a standard MA5 series rifle. So combining their brainpower, the two human groups had started to see if something could be done. The result was the MA5C, which while it had a smaller magazine than its predecessor, fired a more powerful cartridge. It hadn't been used in combat, but it was hoped to be able to more effectively deal with the Covenant.

"At ease soldier," the Captain said, snapping off his own salute.

The marine nodded and went back to whatever task he had been assigned. For his part, Keyes walked through the crowd, heading for the ODST berths. There had been reports of problems between the ODST and Spartan contingents, and Keyes wanted to see just how bad things were getting.

When the Captain reached that part of the ship, he found it was like a different world. The ODST's had a distinct lack of discipline when compared to the rest of the marine contingent, and it showed in the fact that their berthing space was heavily…customized. Some of which was distinctly against regulations at that.

While the ODST's currently in the same room as Keyes saluted, they showed no regrets over the 'modifications'. Keyes declined to mention it, as they were excellent fighters, and some leeway was needed to keep everyone sane in this war.

"Captain on deck!" Major Silva, the commander of the _Autumn's_ ODST detachment barked out.

Keyes returned the salute, before walking up to Silva.

"Major, I hear there have been problems between you and the Spartans. Is this correct?"

Silva shifted slightly, "There may have been some incidents yes."

"And why exactly is this becoming a problem?"

"With all due respect sir…we don't _need_ the Spartans. My men and women are more than capable of doing this mission. Leave those rejects behind and we can capture a Prophet that much quicker."

Keyes shook his head, "We need you and the Spartans equally Major. Having our best men and women on this mission is of the utmost importance. I won't have any more incidents; we need everyone on the top of their game. You are here because you _are_ the best of the best. Start proving it Major."

"Sir!" Silva shouted, clamping down on his urge to badmouth the Spartans. If it was proof that Keyes wanted…well, the Helljumpers would give him that proof. And show those genetically altered freaks just what they were competing against…

* * *

Meanwhile, in a different section of the Galaxy, the _Odyssey_ flashed out of hyperspace. While they had been looking for the Covenant capital, the long-range sensors had picked up some interesting readings. The Asgard sensors couldn't make any sense of the scale or type of energy, it was even more foreign than the plasma reactors the Covenant were so fond of.

Thus, they had made a detour after informing the _Faith_ of the move. The crew of the captured Covenant vessel had acknowledged the message and continued their own search, claiming that they were tracking Covenant fleets that were all moving to a similar location. Because of that, the _Odyssey_ had moved at flank speed to the location of the odd readings, and arrived within a few hours thanks to the speed of their Hyperdrive.

"We've reached the destination sir," one of the new UNSC crew said from the helm station.

"Good job, take us in nice and slow Ensign," Cam Mitchell said, temporarily in charge of the _Odyssey_ while Landry was working back on Reach.

"Yes sir," the woman replied, manipulating the (to her) odd controls to move the small warship further into the system they had entered.

The small warship moved along at a steady pace, powerful sensors scanning for any sign of Covenant warships. So far there had been no sign of the genocidal aliens, though that could change. And it was hard to tell for sure with that power-reading overwhelming the sensors. And if anything, the reading was getting _more powerful_ the further into the system the ship traveled. One thing was clear…they were quickly approaching whatever the source was.

"Sir…what is that?" another member of the new crew said, staring out of the bridge window with a look of awe on his face.

"Hell if I know…but that is one _big_ ring," Cam replied.

Floating in front of the _Odyssey_ and in orbit of a gas giant was a truly massive ring. The obviously artificial construct spun slowly as it orbited the planet, managing to keep what looked like a massive ocean dotted with glaciers inside the rings surface. The structure was easily bigger than anything either set of crew had seen. Even Atlantis paled in comparison.

"Sam, are the scanners seeing what I'm seeing?" the Colonel asked after the shock wore off.

_"If you're seeing a ring that makes us look like a gnat, then yes,"_ Sam replied from the Asgard Core room.

"Any idea what it is?"

_"At the moment? Not a clue, it isn't like anything I've seen. If the scans are any indication it's on par with Ancient technology, in age and design. But it's so far from anything I've ever seen, I don't know what to make of it. The power readings _alone_ are higher than several ZPM's."_

Cam nodded slightly, continuing to stare at the hypnotizing sight of the ring. On closer inspection, he could see intricate shapes on the metal 'hull' of the ring, some of which looked almost like docking ports. Though with the size of the ring, it was somewhat scary to imagine what type of ship would _need_ those ports. If that was even what they were. With how foreign the design of the ring was, it was anyone's guess what the 'carvings' in the 'hull' were.

As Cam continued to examine the ring, his trained eyes noticed something. It was almost impossible to see, but it looked like silver dots were approaching the _Odyssey_.

"Zoom in on those…things…" he ordered, whereupon the viewscreen showed a metal machine of some sort.

The machine had an 'eye' surrounded by three booms, and what looked like a beam weapon mounted below that. While it was small on its own, the camera zoomed out somewhat to show that there was _hundreds_ of the things heading for the human ship.

_"Cam, I don't know what you did up there but those things have their weapons charged. I would rather not test how much fire our shields can take from technology this advanced,"_ Sam said from the core.

"Prep the Hyperdrive for a quick getaway," Cam told the helmsman, who got to her task quickly.

As she worked, the swarm of machines got closer and closer to the _Odyssey_, looking like nothing more than a swarm of silver gnats moving to surround the warship. The drones flew around in perfect formation, not a single collision marring the group. And with the (relatively) small size of the _Odyssey_ it wouldn't take much work to surround the ship entirely.

"Any changes down there Sam?"

_"None. Though the drones seem to be transferring power away from their weapons…I'm not sure what they're doing though."_

And indeed, the glow at the 'barrel' of the drones weapons was fading somewhat. That seemed like a relief, until the light suddenly got blindingly bright as the drones fired beams of light at the _Odyssey_. Instead of shaking the ship and flaring the shields though, the beams seemed to 'wrap' around the blue shield, forming a web of energy around the ship.

"What the hell is that?" Cam shouted as the ship began to shake.

_"Some sort of tractor beam like device. They're pulling us towards the ring!"_ Sam replied.

Cam's eyes widened, "Get us out of here!"

The _Odyssey's_ engines flared to life, struggling against the power of hundreds of drones towing it towards the ring. It was a futile struggle though. The _Odyssey_ had powerful engines, more powerful than even the ones aboard a _Marathon_ class cruiser more than five times its size…but they were proving inadequate against whatever these drones were. Because of this, the Ring grew in size in the viewport, slowly but slowly swallowing the whole view.

And as much as the _Odyssey_ strained against its bonds, they refused to budge. If anything, the drones pumped _more_ power into their strange tractor device. Nothing the human ship did helped, prompting Cam to whisper into his radio.

"Sam…would plugging the ZPM and Core back into the power systems get us free?"

Down in the Core Room, Sam shook her head, _"Possibly. But it might just fry our systems with the sudden surge of power. You can't just 'plug in' a ZPM into a ship that easily, not unless it was designed with one in mind like Atlantis. It would take to long to set up without wrecking the conduits."_

"So we're stuck with…whoever is pulling us in?"

_"Unless you want to try firing on those drones…yes."_

Cam thought that over. On one hand, it was obvious that in the numbers these drones possessed, they had power in excess of the current power supply aboard the _Odyssey_. And who knew what that meant in terms of shielding and weaponry. But if they just let the things drag them onto the Ring…who knew what could happen.

"Prep the railguns. If we can't break free with the engines, we'll blast our way out," Cam ordered.

But, as the crew began to power up the weapons, a loud noise echoed through the ship.

_"Please don't power up your weapons Reclaimers. I do not want to have to fire on your vessel."_

The crew looked around, wondering where the voice came from. And why it was calling them 'Reclaimers'. And of course…how it knew they were powering up the railguns…did the drones have sensors strong enough to tell the railguns were being powered up?

"Who is this and how are you tapping into our comm systems?" Cam asked, figuring the voice was listening for a response.

And it was, as the viewports showed a new image. A floating ball shaped machine with a faint pink glow emanating from its 'eye' stared at the crew.

_"Greetings I am 007 Grieving Light, Monitor of Installation 02."_

* * *

**Yes I'm evil :P**

**Please leave a review, and let me know what you think! They are all appreciated, even if I don't have the time to reply to them. :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Yet again, I apologize for the delay. My grandfather passed away recently and I've been away from my computer (and internet for that matter) helping with things. Thankfully things have calmed down, so I should hopefully be able to get back into the swing of things.**

**On a different note though...several people have commented on the 'Halo is as old/advanced as Ancients' thing. Please read that in context...Sam was talking to _Mitchell_ not Cortana or something. He asked about it, and saying 'on par with Ancients' gets the point across, and isn't inaccurate in any case. A Halo ring _is_ that advanced, and it _is_ that old. Not as old as the oldest Ancient stuff, but certainly older than the Goa'uld or Covenant. So it got the point across to Cam, letting him know this big Ring is old and advanced.**

**Is it completely accurate? No. Did it need to be in the context of the scene? Also a firm no. I hope that explains that particular line. On to the chapter, where we reach Alt-Battle of Reach.**

* * *

**1500 Hours, September 10th 2552 (Military Calendar)/**

**UNSC _Eternal Faith_, Unnamed System**

A flash of light lit up deep space in an empty star system on the edge of UNSC territory. The purple glow spit forth a darker purple ship, the sleek vessel coming to a quick halt as its inertial dampeners and engines strained against the motion of leaving hyperspace. The blue engines at its stern flared as the vessel began to move forward again, albeit at a much slower rate than before. The formerly Covenant warship turned slightly to head towards an anomalous energy reading it had picked up.

The system the vessel was moving into wouldn't have drawn any particular interest under normal circumstances. It was a fairly standard binary star system, with only a 'Hot Jupiter' orbiting near the twin stars. Nothing special, hence the reason the Outer Colony Program had left it alone. The nearest system was the devastated Eridanus system, meaning this area had been under Covenant control for decades now.

Yet, the _Eternal Faith_ was the first UNSC ship to actually scout this system out, as it was commonly assumed that the Covenant would have no more use for such a barren patch of space than the UNSC did. Add in the fact that most Prowlers were needed closer to home, and it made a certain amount of sense. Even the _Faith_ wouldn't be in the system if it weren't for the odd sensor readings.

"Any sign of Covenant activity?" the Captain, a man by the name of Hans Schmidt asked.

"None sir," the sensors officer answered, "there seems to be something in orbit of the planet, but we can't get a good reading with all the interference from the stars."

"Move us closer, but stay in silent running, we don't want to prod a bee hive if the Covenant are here."

In military parlance, silent running meant that all non-essential systems were shut down and the vessel, in this case the _Faith_, moved at a slow speed to avoid detection. In space, this would normally be a useless precaution, as even rudimentary sensors could see the stars blotted out by a one-kilometer long warship. But the interference from the binary stars worked both ways. Any Covenant forces that may have been in the system were blinded to anything but close range scans if they were near the hot Jupiter. And that meant that as long as the _Faith_ stayed a safe distance away and didn't activate any power-hungry systems, they might as well have been invisible.

Thus, as the ship approached the massive planet that was filling the view of the external cameras (the Covenant frigate lacking a 'bridge' like human vessels), they went undetected by the smaller, but still massive, structure orbiting the planet. The structure was at least ten kilometers in circumference, and had a…unique design. But it wasn't the station that drew attention…no, it was the massive Covenant fleet floating around it.

"Counting several hundred Covenant warships Captain," one of the crew said, "including one Supercarrier."

Faces paled across the crew at that bit of news. Covenant Supercarriers were very rare, and for good reason. At 28 kilometers long, they were larger than any other ship known, in either universe. The size wasn't for show either. It corresponded to a massive amount of firepower and shield strength. A single Supercarrier could _decimate_ an entire UNSC fleet. Even the _Odyssey_ paled in comparison to this monstrosity. A Supercarrier could obliterate even the dimension-traveling ship, its firepower greater than anything in either universe.

"Have they detected our approach?"

"No sir."

Captain Schmidt frowned slightly. On one hand, their mission was to figure out the Covenant homeworld. And a fleet this large had to be tied to it. A forward observation post perhaps? But on the other hand, the _Faith_ was horribly outmatched here. And with its lack of a slipspace drive or its standard weapons, it couldn't be used to blend in with Covenant forces. So there really wasn't much of a choice after all. However important the mission was, they were under strict orders not to take any unnecessary risks.

"Hold here and continue to monitor the fleet. If they make any sudden moves, have the Hyperdrive ready to escape," the Captain ordered.

The crew nodded as the _Faith_ slowed to a halt in orbit of a small moon that somehow survived in the hostile conditions around the twin stars. The ships modified sensors continued to observe the Covenant station and its accompanying fleet, watching as every ship (sans the Supercarrier) periodically docked. Whatever this station was, it was obviously being used to support this fleet. And said fleet was constantly rotating patrols, taking their security quite seriously. If it weren't for the (relative) small size of the _Faith_ and the interference from the stars, it would have been detected a long time ago.

But as the captured ship observed its brethren, the Supercarrier began to move away from the station. At least three hundred ships of varying classes followed it, all of the ships moving on a vector that would take them out of the system. Wanting to avoid detection, the _Faith_ flared its engines for a slow burn around the moon. A Clarion spy drone was left behind to continue to monitor this new development.

The small drone watched as the Covenant fleet formed a unified formation, with the Supercarrier and a new ship design sitting at the center. Both ships were obviously meant to be flagships, likely of respective squadrons within the fleet. However, it seemed odd just how small the second ship was compared to its monstrous counterpart. Then again, the Covenant ships rarely made sense to a human designer.

"Fleet is continuing to leave on an out-system vector. They are likely trying to clear the stellar interference. The station is maintaining its orbit."

"Follow that fleet. Maintain silent running."

With that order, the _Faith_ began to shadow the Covenant fleet. If the enemy forces noticed the rouge frigate, they showed no sign of it. Either they couldn't see it (likely due to lingering sensor interference) or they assumed it was part of the fleet that had engine troubles. Either way, they made no hostile moves towards the _Faith_, which continued to shadow the fleet as it moved further away from its station.

Once it was fully clear of any effects from the stars, the fleet reoriented once more. This time, the Supercarrier moved to the front of the fleet, a truly immense Slipspace rupture building at its bow. The rest of the fleet did similar things, with the smaller ships 'piggy-backing' on the larger one's portals. Soon, all of the fleet vanished into slipspace, leaving the _Faith_ behind, while the crew ran the numbers to attempt to ascertain its destination.

"Oh my God," one of the crew gasped, "its Reach sir! The Covenant are heading for Reach!"

The crew was stunned into silence by that. All their hard work in keeping the location of Reach hidden hadn't paid off. The Covenant had finally found it…and even with the rest of Battlegroup Keyes, Reach didn't stand a chance against a fleet of that size without reinforcements. And a lot of them.

"Activate the Hyperdrive! We're faster than the Covenant now…we need to get back to Reach and warn them!" Captain Schmidt called out.

The crew set to their jobs, not wanting to lose their last bastion before Earth herself. Quickly, a purple portal opened in front of the _Faith_, before the vessels engines flared, accelerating it into the portal. As the blue tunnel of hyperspace enveloped the ship, they could only hope that they would arrive back at Reach in time…all hinged on them warning their brothers-in-arms before the Covenant could arrive.

***HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG***

Sometime later, the _Faith_ shot out of its portal in high-orbit of Reach. The Orbital Defense Platforms and the ships currently in orbit trained their guns on it, but relaxed when the proper codes were sent out. The _Faith_ moved past the defense forces and towards one specific platform that was currently serving as the spaceborne portion of HIGHCOM.

"_UNSC Eternal Faith, why have you returned? Have you discovered the Covenant Homeworld?"_ a message came from Admiral Stanforth, who was currently in command of Reach's defense forces.

"No Admiral, they have found _us._ We found a staging area, and a fleet that we believe is coming for Reach," Captain Schmidt replied.

_"Are you certain?"_

"Yes sir, I am. We studied their trajectory, and the only planet along its path is Reach."

A quiet sigh could be heard across the line, before Stanforth began talking again, _"Good work son. Join up with Keyes and be prepared to fight. If the Covenant know of Reach, there is no point hiding that ship from them any longer."_

"Yes sir!"

With their job done, the _Faith_ left to rejoin its battlegroup. Stanforth watched it go, before letting out another sigh. They had tried so hard to keep Reach safe and undetected by the Covenant. But it would now appear that all the precautions and work had only succeeded in buying them some time. Now it was up to the brave soldiers and sailors to defend Reach until an evacuation could be set up. While the goal remained holding Reach, the fact was there was always the chance the Covenant would break through…upgrades or no upgrades. So they had to get the civilians and the mobile dockyards evacuated, to maintain Reach's population and construction abilities…even on another world if needed.

So, with that goal in mind, Stanforth left the command post for his nearby flagship. The _Leviathan_ was the first of the _Marathon_ class ships to be refitted, and it had been quite recently at that considering the older _Halcyon_ class was being upgraded first as they needed them more. But the _Leviathan_ was ready for battle, and ready to lead the lighter ship squadrons while the partly-refitted _Trafalgar_ and _Mushashi_ handled the overall fleet.

As he reached a shuttle, Stanforth watched out its window while it moved towards the massive _Leviathan_. The cruiser was surrounded by its lighter escorts, waiting for its commander before moving to join the rest of the fleet. Stanforth's pilot angled the small shuttle to one of the cruisers docking bays, before powering down inside of the newly shielded bay. The Admiral got to his feet to exit the shuttle, where he was met by a Marine escort.

"Welcome back Admiral," the commander of the escort said with a salute.

"Good to be back son," Stanforth replied returning the salute, "let's get to the bridge and get moving to the fleet."

As Stanforth walked to the bridge, the large engines at the rear of the _Leviathan_ flared to life, pushing the mighty warship and its escorts towards the rally point where the rest of the UNSC fleet waited. By now, the fleet had grown to nearly 80 warships, all upgraded to some extent (mostly shields and hyperdrives). There were more ships coming from nearby systems, but their slower Slipspace drives meant it would be some time before they could possibly reach the system. The only saving grace was the fact the Covenant (while faster) were still a long way off.

"Message from the _Pillar of Autumn_ sir," one of the crew called out as Stanforth reached the bridge.

"Play it," the Admiral replied shortly.

_"The battlegroup is ready Admiral. We haven't been able to establish contact with the _Odyssey_ however. The Prowler _Darkness _is ready to check along their last known path."_

"Go ahead and send them out Keyes. We need every ship we can get, especially that one."

_"Roger that Admiral_."

A small pitch black vessel detached from the fleet and vanished into a hyperspace window. The rest of the fleet continued to move into a formation similar to the one at Sigma Octanus, waiting for the inevitable Covenant arrival.

* * *

**1200 Hours, September 16th 2552 (Military Calendar)/**

**Covenant Fleet, on approach to Epsilon Eridani**

* * *

It had been several days now since the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice had left the _Unyielding Hierophant_ on its mission to the world that held the Sacred Crystal. Some of the Sangheili in command of the fleet (notably the Fleetmaster Thel 'Vadamee) felt that sending the entire fleet was likely unnecessary. While they were all veterans and didn't underestimate the Human forces, there was very little that could stand against a CSO and its escorts. But they wouldn't question an order direct from the Hierarchs, so the entire fleet was sent out in case the Humans had found their destination first.

And now, they were about to exit slipspace, and find out just what awaited the glorious fleet.

"Reverting now Fleetmaster," a Minor said from his post.

The dark portal that was Slipspace vanished from the viewport, replaced with a view of a standard star system. Average, if small star, with a handful of habitable planets. Exactly what they had been told to expect by the Prophets. What they _hadn't_ been expecting was a large human fleet in orbit of the second planet. By all appearances they had been expecting the Covenant forces arrival, and had moved into a defensive position.

"Humans…how could they have found this system?" one of the Sangheili Major's that served as security growled.

"What is the count of their ships?" 'Vadamee questioned.

"One hundred and eighty Fleetmaster. Including three each of the Human Attack Vessel Class C-1 and C-2."

Thel nodded his head, "Move the fleet forward. We still outnumber the humans. The _Unwavering Promise_ is to stay behind the main fleet and use its Energy Projector on targets of opportunity."

"At once Fleetmaster!"

With that order, the massive Covenant armada began to flare its engines and move towards the human fleet. The _Unwavering Promise_ held back, as it was a modified cruiser built specifically to 'snipe' as the humans would call it. The frigates, destroyers, and CCS-class cruisers moved to the front, red plasma glowing along their flanks as they charged plasma torpedoes. But before they could fire, a shot rang out on the bridge of the _Ascendant Justice_.

"Fleetmaster! One of our vessels is in the human battleline! The _Eternal Faith_!"

Thel's head snapped around, as the rest of the bridge crew turned to look at the Minor who had shouted that bit of news. As was to be expected of even a low-ranking Sangheili, the Minor didn't even flinch at the sudden attention. He merely brought up the camera view from one of the frigates at the front of the fleet.

And sitting in the middle of the human formation was indeed a familiar purple form. The _Eternal Faith_, one of the fleet that had been destroyed at the other human world, where the first Holy Relic in a long, long time had been found. But apparently, it had not been destroyed…but captured by the humans.

"May its crew never see the Great Journey," one of the other Minor's muttered, glaring at the human-controlled ship.

"Concentrate fire on the _Eternal Faith_," Thel ordered, keeping his cool as befit a Fleetmaster, "destroy that ship at all costs."

The red fire glowing along Covenant ships continued to grow, before being released in a massive barrage at the human ships. Said ships fired their primitive weapons in reply, with large platforms in orbit of the planet firing along with the ships. The weapons fire crossed paths, some human shells melted by the hot plasma. But before the torpedoes could impact on the _Eternal Faith_ and the human stations, three large metal…plates…moved in front of the ships. The Covenant crew was shocked at the audacity of the humans, sacrificing some of their people to man those 'ships'. Naturally with the near-complete destruction of the Sigma Octanus fleet none of the Covenant crews knew about the sacrifice of the _Cradle_, so they were unprepared for this tactic to be used (again).

Their plasma fire impacted on the 'ships' burning through their non-existent armor, melting holes into the hulls. The 'ships' fell apart, melted and vaporized without so much as a minor explosion. But the remaining debris continued to absorb plasma fire, meaning that none of the weapons hit their intended target. But the human weapons weren't limited in the same way. The smaller weapons bounced off the Covenant shields, doing damage but taking two or more hits to break through.

The larger weapons however…the first of their shells to hit impacted on a CCS-class cruiser, the _Truth and Reconciliation_. The cruiser's shield flared brilliant silver for a split-second, before the human shell punched through and impacted on the hull. The _Truth and Reconciliation_ shattered into a million purple chunks, and the shell retained enough momentum and energy to similarly obliterate an unlucky frigate. The same was true for the other nineteen shells, as they destroyed numerous Covenant vessels. To add insult to injury, human nuclear weapons flared to life, far more powerful than in older battles. The massive explosives vaporized shieldless vessels, and crippled ones that had damaged shields.

In the first volley, the humans lost three 'ships'-the Covenant lost one hundred. Growls echoed through the halls of the _Ascendant Justice_ and the _Sublime Transcendence_ which was holding back with reinforcements. The vengeful Covenant fleet continued forward, seemingly shrugging off the massive losses, as more plasma gathered along their flanks. And this time, the humans would have no shields to defend their weak ships…

"Fire!"

The plasma launched forward once more, angling for the human warships. As the plasma continued its 'slow' crawl to the human fleet, the _Unwavering Promise_ fired its five modified Energy Projectors, the blue-white beams crossing space and impacting on the human warships. What shocked everyone aboard the Covenant vessels wasn't that the beams killed the human ships in one hit…it was what happened as the beams impacted.

An orange-gold shield flared to life around the human ships, resisting the power of the Energy Projectors for a second before shattering as the beam carved through the human ships.

"Shields…the humans have shields," Thel muttered, "though they _are_ weak."

As Thel watched, the human warships fired again, aiming for the _Unwavering Promise_ which was moving back to avoid fire from the surprisingly powerful stations. As the human ships fired, they began to move out of their previous formation, likely to avoid the retaliatory fire from the Covenant. But they were too slow, as the plasma torpedoes impacted on the human warships. The strange shields held against one, or even two hits from the torpedoes. But they shattered when hit with anything more, and the smaller ships couldn't even take one hit before their smaller reactors overloaded from the strain. Twenty-five human ships burned and fell out of the disintegrating formation.

"Split the fleet, and attack the structures in orbit," Thel ordered.

The order was quickly relayed through the remaining ships, which began to maneuver even as the human weapons hit their shields. This time only a handful of Covenant warships took damage, and only ten were destroyed outright. Part of the fleet (including the _Ascendant Justice_) continued to engage the human fleet, while a small group of ships moved 'up' relative to the clashing fleets. Plasma collected along their flanks as the ships targeted the human stations. Said stations fired once more, destroying a dozen of the Covenant vessels. But the remaining ships fired their weapons, expecting to destroy the human stations.

But the infernal shield system sprang to life on the stations, taking the torpedoes with little more than a flicker. What the Covenant didn't know was when the torpedoes were fired all the power being generated by the reactors on the surface for the platforms was transferred into their new Goa'uld shield grid. It nearly overloaded the shields, but it nonetheless protected the stations which quickly returned fire, destroying the remaining Covenant ships attacking them.

Though it galled Thel to do so, he knew his battered fleet was getting the worst of this engagement. They had to retreat or risk losing too many vessels to destroy the newly upgraded human ships. So he ordered a general retreat, to link up with the forces lead by the CSO-class _Sublime Transcendence_ and the other ships that were still on an approach vector. But from the departing ships, a landing force left, heading for the poles of the human world. It was an improvised strategy, but they _needed_ to get ground forces landed, and they could not afford any more surprises from the human fleet.

***HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG***

"That was too easy…" Captain Keyes muttered on the bridge of the _Pillar of Autumn_.

All around him shattered and burning UNSC ships floated, a sign of just how hard this battle still was. The casualties had been far smaller than expected due to the upgrades, but there was still at least fifty UNSC ships burning and dissected due to Covenant weapons fire. But even with that, and the large losses the Covenant had taken…they shouldn't have retreated so easily. Something was wrong…but wh…

"Cortana, scan the poles," Keyes ordered, the AI having been assigned to the _Autumn_ for the duration of the battle.

The viewscreen changed from a view of the burning ships to Reach's poles. Hundreds of Covenant dropships were descending to the surface, much like at Sigma Octanus.

"Get FLEETCOM HQ online," he ordered Lieutenant Dominique, "Copy this message to the Fleet Commander as well."

"Aye sir," Lieutenant Dominique said, "Channel connected."

"Tell them they're being invaded. Dropships inbound at both poles."

Dominique sent the message, listened a moment, then reported, "Message received and acknowledged, sir."

The Super Mac platforms slowly reoriented before firing ten shells at each of the poles. Dozens of Covenant dropships were destroyed by the rushing air the shells produced, if not vaporized outright from the shells themselves. The UNSC fleet's frigates moved towards the poles, firing their weapons at the Covenant dropships. Hundreds more were destroyed…but Keyes knew that there was still a significant number that managed to get through. Reach had been invaded…despite all their efforts to prevent it.

And it didn't take long for said ground forces to reach an important target…FLEETCOM HQ.

_"There are thousands of them. Grunts, Jackals, and their warrior Elites."_

The transmission broke into static before returning, _"They have tanks and fliers. Christ, they've breached the perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear this: the Covenant is groundside. Massing near the armory…they're-"_

It didn't take a genius to know what the Covenant were after…the generators for the MAC platforms. Take those down, and the stations would be little more than giant hunks of scrap. Keyes tapped his pipe against his hand as he thought of a battle plan. Obviously the Covenant had landed a significant ground force. And while Reach was (mostly) evacuated and had a large number of ground forces…they were limited in what they could do. They needed help, and _fast._

"Get me the Spartan's," Keyes ordered, at which point the Master Chief appeared on one of the monitors, "Chief, I need you and your men on a Pelican ASAP. We need to support the reactor complex."

_"Roger that sir. We will leave ASAP."_

The Chief's helmeted visage vanished, and soon enough a pair of Pelican dropships detached from the _Autumn_, heading for the surface of Reach. Keyes watched them leave as the remaining UNSC ships moved to a new position around the defense platforms. A pair of frigates split off to help against the ground forces, while the remaining ships did their best to form a cordon around Reach.

The _Leviathan_ moved next to the _Autumn_, the two cruisers forming an anchor point near Platform 15. And it turned out to be a very good thing they did, as Cortana soon pointed out.

"Spatial disturbance to our stern Captain!"

Behind the pair of cruisers, a Covenant Frigate flashed into existence.

"Notify FLEETCOM that we have unwanted visitors," Keyes ordered, as the _Autumn_ and _Leviathan_ reoriented to face the Covenant vessel, that was soon joined by two identical vessels.

A white flash of light flashed across space as the cruisers moved, one of the Super MAC's firing at, and destroying, the first Frigate. But it wouldn't be enough, as the other two started to come to life and charge plasma along their flanks.

"Fire the plasma cannons. Tell the Admiral I recommend the _Leviathan_ do the same. We can't orient the MAC's quickly enough."

As the cruisers continued their (relatively) sluggish turn, the turrets along their flanks came to life and oriented on the Covenant frigates. Gold beams of condensed plasma began to flash out at a remarkably fast rate of fire, battering into the frigates shields. The _Autumn_ and _Leviathan_ focused fire on one of the frigates first, battering its shields down quickly, the gold bolts soon cratering the hull and blasting through to the reactor, sending the large warship up in a large explosion.

The other frigate survived long enough to shoot off its torpedo, before the gold beams found their marks and detonated that vessel too. The plasma continued on however, hitting the nearby platform. Thankfully its overtaxed shield held, though it was anyone's guess just how much punishment the shields could take…they had no lack of power, thanks to the planetside generators, but the strain of the hits had to be wreaking havoc with the emitters.

"Picking up activity just outside the platforms range sir," Cortana piped up.

And indeed, the monstrous ship from earlier had returned. It fired that infernal beam weapon, bisecting the frigate _Gettysburg_, even though its shield flared at the impact. That ship and its weapon had been the bane of the fleet throughout the battle, able to strike beyond range of any retaliation (as evidenced by the Super MAC's missing as they returned fire yet again) and with enough power to make the Goa'uld shields look useless.

Keyes frowned at that, as another ship (a destroyer this time) went up in a flare as its reactor was punctured.

"Plot a course Ensign Lovell," he ordered, "we are going after that ship."

"Sir?" Lovell questioned, before getting to his task, "yes sir!"

The _Autumn's_ engines flared, as it moved away from the fleet. The 'Supercruiser' was far enough away that it would take a long time to reach it, and that had Keyes worried. That firepower would tear through their shields and armor like tissue paper. They had no choice though…or did they?

"Cortana? Can you plot a pinpoint hyperspace jump like the _Odyssey_ did at Sigma Octanus?"

Cortana looked thoughtful for a second, before replying, "I can."

"Do it."

And with that, a hyperspace window opened in front of the _Pillar of Autumn_, as the ship flashed forward. Not even a second later it flashed back out of hyperspace on the opposite side of the 'Supercruiser'. The Covenant ship quickly began to turn in an attempt to get a shot at that _Autumn_, but Keyes wasn't about to give them that chance.

"Fire all our weapons at that monstrosity."

Gold plasma bolts, Archer missiles, and three MAC shells flashed out at the Supercruiser. The Covenant shield flared silver as it absorbed the first few hits, but the MAC shells battered it down. A handful of missiles got through and did some minimal damage, while the Goa'uld weapons blew holes through the ships blue armor, disabling one of its turrets. The enemy ship regenerated its shield, but fires blossomed underneath it from damage, as the _Autumn_ moved out of sight of its remaining weapons.

"Enemy ship damaged sir. But it isn't out of this fight by any means," Cortana said, as a beam grazed the _Autumn_, overloading the shield but missing the hull.

"Launch the Shiva-equipped Longsword," Keyes ordered, a plan already forming in his head.

"Longsword away," Cortana replied as she maneuvered the _Autumn_ like a fighter to stay in the Supercruisers new blind spot.

"Fire all weapons at the same target," Keyes said calmly, "and when the shield goes down…ram that Longsword down their throat."

"Yes sir!"

Once again, weapons fire flared from every port on the _Autumn_, flashing out and tearing at the Covenant ship. The shield collapsed even faster this time due to the damage it had already taken, while the Longsword crashed into the ship's hull. As the shield came back up, the _Autumn_ began to retreat from the Supercruiser, aiming to get a sufficient distance before the Shiva went up.

"Shiva detonating in five…four…three…two…one…" Cortana counted down, before the enemy ship was consumed in a white flash of light.

When the light cleared, nothing was left of the Covenant ship. Keyes smiled slightly as the _Autumn_ turned back for Reach…but the smile faded when he saw the planet. A Covenant Supercarrier had appeared with reinforcements, all moving for the damaged UNSC Defense Fleet. Things just went from bad to worse…

* * *

**AN: And there was the chapter. I know comments on the tech are forthcoming...but please, don't flame or say I've got something wrong. I'm in the process of working on a 'Codex' of sorts to be posted to compare the tech. If anyone has something they _really_ think I messed up on, feel free to PM me and I can add it to the Codex. That _should_ be posted sometime soon. Just please...bear with me here, I'm doing my best to keep everything balanced and not 'out of left field'.**

**Which reminds me...I said _way back_ in Chapter 4 that Goa'uld ships are _at best_ a match for a Covenant Destroyer. Anything higher up (cruisers, carriers and such) are more like Tollan-obsolete Asgard-Ori (for the Supercarrier and _maybe_ the Assault Carrier) level tech. Of course, it is hard to really compare exactly since they are opposite in weapons.**

**Slow moving uncondensed Plasma Torpedo against fast firing (and moving) plasma bolts. A Covenant ship can hit _harder_ for each hit, but a Goa'uld (or other SG ship) can hit _faster_ for each hit. Of course, the comparison falls apart for bigger Covvie ships, but that is what the Codex is for. **

**And after all that...please let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review. We will hit the Odyssey again next chapter. Oh, and before I forget...the artifact at Sigma Octanus had coordinates for Halo _and_ Reach. So the Covenant would have found Reach either way, even with the lost probe. That being said, it did gain them some spare time, and the Covenant weren't expecting the UNSC to be at Reach. Only uber-paranoid Prophets lead to a similar battle.**

**Just please, no flames. It does no good for my mood/writing, and is just a waste of time. If you don't like the story, there is a nice shiny back button you know ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Well, this chapter didn't turn out quite how I wanted it to. We come back to the _Odyssey_ and their subplot here, though I had some major difficulties in writing this chapter. That being said, it probably turned out the best I could have done without waiting even longer to post, so I hope everyone still likes it.**

**Also, I will post the Codex in a different chapter, right before the next _actual_ chapter is up. There wasn't enough tech discussions in this chapter to warrant posting anything new, and I would rather make sure I don't mess anything up you know? :P**

**In any case, on to the chapter.**

* * *

**1200 Hours****, September 10, 2552 (Military Calendar) /**

**USS _Odyssey_, Unnamed System, 'Installation 02'**

Needless to say, the crew of the _Odyssey_ was thrown for a loop when they saw the thing that had captured their ship. The UNSC segment was surprised at the appearance of what was obviously an alien AI, while the original crew were running through some bad memories. After all, the last non-human AI they had seen were the Replicators…and this was too similar to that situation to discount the possibility of things going wrong. After all…UNSC AI were programmed to work with their organic counterparts…this was an AI leading a machine army.

"Sam, now would be a _really_ good time to get us out of here," Cam said.

_"Nothing I can do Cam. We're stuck here unless you want to blast our way out._"

"And we can't risk that…damn it."

The Monitor watched the exchange curiously, before talking again, _"Why would you want to leave Reclaimer? This Ring is your Legacy after all, and it is my duty to deliver it to you for safekeeping."_

The last time anyone on the human ship had heard 'Legacy' was in relation to the Asgard Core. So if nothing else, it piqued their interest even more than it previously had been. There was still the ever-present danger and level of risk, but…if this was anything like what the Asgard had left behind, or even like Atlantis…they couldn't very well afford to ignore it. Extreme risk aside of course.

"What do you mean by 'Legacy'?" Cam asked cautiously.

The Monitor tilted its head almost like a confused dog, _"The Reclaimers are the chosen inheritors of the Forerunner Mantle of Responsibility. This Ring is an integral part of enforcing that Mantle. You should already know this if you have been able to find this Installation."_

"Err…"

_"So you don't know then? Very well, I will have to educate you on your history Reclaimers. Please, allow me to land your vessel on the Installation and I can explain everything you need to know."_

Cam frowned at the image of the Monitor, deep in thought. They had no reason to trust this machine, it could even be said they only had reason to _dis_trust it. But by the same token, the Monitor hadn't made any hostile moves (aside from pulling them to the Ring). And it would give them time to get the ZPM 'plugged' back into the power systems. And the _Odyssey_ was more than capable of a quick getaway if needed.

In the end, it truly came down to a 'did the risks outweigh the benefits' situation. It was extremely risky no matter what decision Cam made. If they tried to escape, the Monitor would likely order its buddies to open fire on the _Odyssey_. And while the Asgard shields were _probably_ strong enough to shrug off fire from the machines towing it, God only knew what was on that Ring still. Which was the problem with trying to trust the Monitor. It wanted to land the ship on the Ring, and that was a major problem, considering they didn't know what was on the Ring. Or what the Monitor was really planning on doing to them.

But…the chance for even more new technology was tempting everyone aboard the ship. The UNSC part of the crew wanted more weapons and abilities to fight the Covenant. And the SGC part was sorely tempted by a possibility of getting home. After all, this Ring was some of the most advanced technology they had ever seen, so it was entirely possible that its creators knew of a device like the Quantum Mirror that could be used to get home.

As 'his' crew looked on expectantly, Cam sighed and faced the Monitor, "Oh what the hell. We'll land on that Ring of yours. Just let go of our ship and we can land ourselves."

The Monitor (scarily) looked _happy_ to hear that, _"That is excellent news Reclaimer. We have so much lost time to discuss. I am transmitting coordinates to a landing zone now. As soon as the Sentinels have cleared your path, please come and land on the Installation."_

"Yeah yeah," Cam muttered as the Monitor's image was replaced by a highlighted area on the Ring, "I really hope I don't regret this."

The machines (now identified as Sentinels) started to release their hold on the _Odyssey_, moving their cordon aside to let the human vessel through. Though the machines stayed close, cutting off any path aside from the one to the Ring. Whatever else this Monitor was, it (or should they say _she_ since it had a feminine voice?) wasn't stupid. It (she?) wasn't giving them the chance to try and escape. So Cam ordered the helmsman to power the engines and send the _Odyssey_ to its designated landing zone.

As the ship entered the Ring's atmosphere, sensors along its hull started to take readings of its composition, to ensure there weren't any toxic chemicals in the air. Surprisingly, the Ring had an atmosphere remarkably similar to Earth, if with a bit more of some elements and a bit less of others. Nothing that a human body couldn't adapt to though…which meant whoever had built this Ring had to be at least human-like, if not outright ancient humans like the (no pun intended) Ancients. This would make a certain amount of sense considering the Monitor declaring the (human) crew of the Odyssey to be the inheritors of the Ring.

All these thoughts ran through the heads of the crew while the ship descended through the Ring's atmosphere towards a group of structures situated on one of the larger glaciers. The buildings were elegant grey structures, mostly made of some sort of rock or concrete analogue, with the exception of the obvious landing zone that was made up of a silvery metal. The _Odyssey_ came to a stop on the landing pad, extending a landing ramp to allow the 'First Contact' crew members to leave without revealing the transportation technology to the Monitor. Though the ship did keep its engines ready to ignite at a moment's notice if they needed to make a quick escape.

"Well, time to meet the possibly crazy AI. Anyone else worried?" Cam asked rhetorically as he pulled back the charging bolt on his new MA5C.

"More intrigued than worried. Not _every_ AI has to be like the Replicators," Daniel said, interest shining in his eyes at the chance to meet a remnant of such an old civilization.

"We're ready when you are sir," an imposing armored figure added, holding a DMR.

Said armored figure was Commander Carter-A259 of Noble Team. The Spartan III's (and one II) had been removed from their typical posting on Reach to provide security and a fast attack force if needed on the _Odyssey_. It was in the former role that they were now serving, each member of the team outfitted in their unique armor and standing in a circle around the 'VIPs' (Cam, Daniel, and a member of ONI named Jeff Birch).

"Okay, so I'm the only one worried then," the Colonel said sarcastically, "let's get this over with."

And he couldn't have had better timing as the little-used landing ramp finished extending. Two of the Nobles, Kat-S320 and Jorge S-052 walked down first, making an interesting comparison as the smallest and largest members of the team. As the rest of the group cleared the hull, they saw the Monitor floating alongside a group of Sentinels. The pink-hued machine in the center looked friendly _somehow_ while the Sentinels were training their weapons on the joint SGC/UNSC contingent. Protocol won out over excitement in both cases. Naturally, the Spartan's responded by having _their_ weapons primed and ready, if not necessarily pointed at their 'hosts'.

"_Detecting no hostile actions, and no Sentinels outside that group_," a feminine voice said in the radios of the group.

"Roger that Kalmiya," Carter replied, talking to the AI that Dr. Halsey had lent them for this mission, and that was currently residing in his 'head'.

"Well Jackson, Birch, that's your cue," Cam said, motioning them forward.

Both of the mentioned people moved forward with Jorge and Noble Six providing escort, while the rest of the group continued to examine the area for a trap.

"Greetings Reclaimers," Grieving Light said cheerfully, "welcome to Installation 02's primary docking facility. I have waited far too long for your arrival."

Daniel stepped forward first, having more experience with (non-hostile) alien life than his fellow human (even if he wasn't _really_ a diplomat), "I'm sure you are excited to meet us then. We certainly have a lot of questions for you."

The Monitor 'nodded', "I would imagine Reclaimer. I admit I still find it strange how you know nothing of your legacy, but I can rectify that now that you are here. There are so many things to discuss!"

"Like what the purpose of this Ring is?" Birchasked, moving next to Daniel.

"Naturally," Grieving Light replied, "as terrible as that purpose is."

The sudden move from cheerful to depressed surprised the group a bit. What could be so bad about this Ring that the Monitor itself didn't like it?

"Why do I suddenly get a bad feeling?" Jorge muttered to his Spartan-III counterpart.

Six shrugged her shoulders in response, while Daniel frowned slightly at the front of the little gathering.

"What is so terrible?"

"That is a long story Reclaimers. I would rather save that until we are inside one of the buildings. While it has been one-hundred thousand years since I have seen a human, I know your kind is not likely to be comfortable in this cold of weather."

Which didn't take a genius to notice. The _Odyssey_ hadn't been carrying much cold weather gear, so (outside of the Spartans in their MJOLNIR armor) the group was showing some signs of how uncomfortable the Ring's cold environment was.

"That would be nice actually," Daniel admitted.

"Excellent!" Grieving light said, getting back 'her' former cheerful attitude, "right this way Reclaimers!"

Daniel followed easily enough, while the Spartans (plus Cam and Birch) looked a bit leery at the idea. Going into a confined building while their 'hosts' could turn hostile at quite literally any moment was not their view of a good idea. But knowing that the _Odyssey_ could beam them out if things went down the proverbial drain meant they were willing (if not necessarily happy) to go along with the machines for now. So the Spartans once again formed a cordon around the VIPs and moved to follow the Monitor.

Rising up in front of them was a large structure, resembling nothing more than some sort of temple. The entrance to the 'temple' was large enough to fit even Jorge with room to spare, allowing the group to enter fairly quickly. And they noticed that it definitely had some heating systems, since the moment they entered they felt a wave of heat.

"I'm afraid I don't have seating Reclaimers," Grieving Light said apologetically, "but I can have some manufactured if you require it."

"We'll just sit on the floor, thanks," Cam said, doing just that.

"Now, can you please tell us what we are supposed to know?" Daniel asked again, getting right to the point.

The Monitor let out a 'sigh', "Very well. It began a long time ago, when my creators the Forerunners met your own ancestors…"

**HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG***

_Thousands of years ago, the Forerunner Empire was believed to be the dominant power in the Galaxy. Our mighty Empire spread from one end of the Galaxy to the other, content and peaceful. However, we were not as alone on our technological pedestal as we would have liked to believe, for another alliance of races was our equal in nearly every way._

_Your Ancient ancestors, the Human Empire and their San 'Shyuum allies were both near our technology level on their own. In their alliance, they were a force that was capable of fighting our greatest military commanders to a standstill for decades. They were aggressive in everything they did, conquering our worlds and destroying our fleets in hard-fought battles. The Humans started the war, but my creators were determined to be the ones to finish it, and eliminate their threat from the Galaxy._

_Because of this, dreadful war spread through both our territory, and the smaller Human expanse. The Humans fought hard, but they were weakened from an even longer battle against an enemy we knew nothing of at the time. Because of this, the Forerunner fleets were eventually able to push your people back to their capital world, Charum Hakkor. Hundreds of human worlds fell before this, most of their populations refusing to surrender. The same would be true of their capital._

_The last surviving human fleets rallied at Charum Hakkor, using technology even more advanced than our own to make up for their lack in numbers. The Siege of Charum Hakkor was dreadful, in its length and damage. For fifty years we fought and bled against the Humans and their allies. Fifty years of bloodshed and loss. Fifty years of anger and resentment towards what we believed were an aggressive and impossible to negotiate with race. Anger and resentment that would be our downfall, just as surely as it was your own._

_When we finally forced our way through your people's forces, our vengeance was swift and complete. Those few of your people who surrendered were split into multiple different races and devolved into a society that barely deserved the name. Stripped of all their technology and exiled to their homeworld of Erde-Tyrene, the Human Empire was reduced to a historical footnote, while the San 'Shyuum were exiled to their own homeworld, if allowed to keep their technology for surrendering without doing anywhere near as much damage as the humans._

_It was only much later that we learned of our horrible mistake, and the last revenge of our enemies. For the humans hadn't been attempting to expand into our territory and take over our people, they had been fleeing their own, far more horrible, enemy. Known as the 'Flood' to our shocked people, this enemy had been driven to near-extinction by the humans, though it horribly weakened their forces. This enemy was a parasite the likes of which had never been seen before, able to overtake an entire world with a mere handful of spores. A mere handful of spores that could destroy anything in their path._

_The Flood descended on our worlds like a plague, overtaking anything the humans had ever done to fight us. World after world fell, the people infected being used to increase the Flood war machine. Our own people were being used by this parasite to fight against us. Our own ships were used to spread the infection from world to world. Even after the war with the humans, our military was horribly unprepared for this fight, unable to do more than stem the flow of the Flood._

_It was during this desperate struggle that we learned just what we had lost by destroying the human's civilization. They had been able to defeat the Flood by developing a cure for the infection. But in their hour of defeat, when they realized the lengths our vengeful people would go to…the humans destroyed the cure and any records of it. Through our own hubris, we had destroyed any chance of curing our people of this infection. Our greatest minds attempted to recreate the cure, but we were unable to do so._

_Realizing that we may be unable to defeat the Flood, our people turned to the very Installation you are currently standing on. Seven of these Rings were spread throughout the Galaxy. Some were used to study our enemy in an attempt to combat it more effectively, while some were dedicated entirely to use as a last resort weapon. A last resort that came, after three hundred long years of fighting the Flood._

_Our people were decimated and our fleets were unable to continue to hold the Flood at bay. With every other option exhausted, the Halo Array was fired as our last remaining fleets held the Flood back. The firing of these Rings killed all sentient life in the Galaxy, outside of a few safe zones where the last remnants of my people waited for the Flood to die of starvation so that we could restore the races we had saved in the last days of the war to their homeworlds. Including your own race Reclaimers. It was hoped that with the end of the Flood, the galaxy could be restored to its former glory._

_But with the end of the Forerunner Empire, myself and six fellow Monitors were left on the Installations, safeguarding them in the event of another Flood outbreak. We were told to keep the Installations safe for the Reclaimers…our former enemies, the humans. They were now recognized as our best chance of a worthy inheritor of the Mantle, and thus, were given the Reclaimer status. Any Forerunner Construct was programmed to acknowledge this fact. _

_With our mission in mind, the remaining Forerunners left to some unknown location, leaving my fellow Monitors and I behind to safeguard the  
galaxy and their legacy. And we have done so for the last one hundred thousand years. It is our mission, a mission to keep the galaxy safe, and eventually restore the Mantle to our inheritors. Nothing matters as much to a Monitor, nothing at all._

**HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG***

"…and now I find myself finally meeting the Reclaimers I have waited for," Grieving Light finished.

Needless to say, this story had left the group in varying degrees of shock. This Ring could kill all life in the Galaxy? Humanity had an equivalent to the Ancients even in this universe? There was possibly an enemy out there that made the Covenant look like a minor skirmish? This was a lot to take in, and certainly not what anyone aboard the _Odyssey_ had been expecting when they had left Reach. And it left them with more _questions_ than _answers_.

"This is a lot to take in," Daniel said, leaning back somewhat.

"I understand," the Monitor said, "I can answer any questions you have to the best of my ability."

"Well, if you really have been here so long, how have you not noticed that we have been isolated on Earth until the last few centuries?" Cam asked, carefully avoiding any mention of the fact he wasn't from _this_ Earth.

"Earth?"

"Our homeworld. Probably what you call Erde-Tyrene," Daniel explained.

"Ahhh…" the Monitor said with another 'nod', "I have been isolated here. As the Monitor, I am not allowed to leave my Installation for any reason short of catastrophic failure. So naturally I have no idea of what is occurring in the Galaxy at large. I do not even know of the other Installations, as their Monitors have ceased contact."

"Well that explains things….like why you haven't helped with the Covenant," Birch said, breaking into the conversation.

"Covenant?"

"Kalmiya, can you pull up our files on the Covenant?" Carter asked his AI.

_"Certainly_," the AI replied, a holoprojector that Sam and Halsey had designed lighting up in Carter's hand.

The Spartan handed the projector to the Monitor, who scanned the information eagerly. At least until it came to things about the Human-Covenant War. When it reached those parts, the Monitor became far more serious.

"This is not good, this is not good at all," the machine muttered, "is this all you have?"

"All we can show someone we don't know," Birch replied.

"And as telling me everything is a security risk, you can't show more," Grieving Light deduced.

"Correct."

"While I may not know of this 'Covenant', I can tell you about the races composing it. Or at least what I knew of them from before the firing of the Array. The warrior races you have shown me are known as the Unggoy, what you know as 'Grunts'. The larger race is the Kig-Yar, the 'Jackals'. Finally, you have the Sangheili, 'Elites' and…this is interesting…"

"What's interesting?" Daniel asked, though he had a bad feeling all of a sudden.

"This," the Monitor replied, bringing up one of the few images that had been secured of the Prophets, "is a San 'Shyuum."

Considering what they had just learned of their past, it was a bit understandable that (sans the typically unflappable Spartans) the human group was surprised by that revelation. After all, they had just learned how the newly identified Prophets had been their _ally_ in the past. What could have driven them to want to exterminate humanity?

"Man, the universe must love torturing us!" Cam said, throwing his hands in the air.

"I will admit it is odd," Grieving Light admitted, "I cannot imagine why the San 'Shyuum would be so determined to destroy humanity…destroying worlds like this is something that should only be used on the Flood."

"It is possible that they grew to hate us in the time that we were apart," Daniel suggested, "any civilization would change after that much time."

"Still to change so much…is troubling," the Monitor muttered, "do you know anything else about the San 'Shyuum and their allies?"

"Only what they said at first contact," Birch answered, "_Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument_."

"Curious…I wonder if this Covenant discovered surviving records of our war with your ancestors. It was common for less sophisticated races to revere my creators as gods, and I would not be surprised if the same was true of the San 'Shyuum."

"Curious? That's all you have to say eyeball?" one of the Spartans, Emile, said after finally getting fed up with all the talking and no action.

Grieving Light looked apologetic, "I apologize. I have been isolated for so long that I have a difficult time relating to other's experiences."

"Is there anything you can do to help us though?" Daniel asked.

"There is not much I can do personally. Protocol dictates that I am not allowed to leave this Installation, even in a situation such as this," Grieving Light said softly, sounding unhappy about the situation, "however, I may have a way to help you."

"You do?"

Somehow, the Monitor looked like it had a plan in mind.

"I am not allowed to leave the Installation. But there is no protocol forbidding me from creating a copy of my programming and installing it on a vessel docked here," the Monitor said, in an almost conspiratorial whisper.

"Somehow I get the feeling your creators wouldn't appreciate that," Cam deadpanned…and _he_ didn't exactly appreciate it, considering it was, you know, allowing a possibly crazy AI to make a copy of itself.

"Most likely not," the Monitor agreed, "but it is the only way I can aid you 'directly'."

"No offense, but I ain't installing you on our ship," Cam protested.

"You got that right," Emile muttered from the back.

Grieving Light looked a bit confused, "I said a vessel docked here. I did not mean your transport Reclaimer. What little I have seen of your technology would likely be incompatible in any case. It is advanced, highly advanced, but it is not the same as Forerunner technology."

_That_ brought the group up short. The Monitor was implying a Forerunner vessel was docked on this Ring. If what little they had seen of Forerunner technology was any indication that was a _gold mine_. Even if it (probably) wasn't equivalent to an Ancient vessel, it was still far more advanced than the Covenant. And obviously, any technology helped.

"You have a ship here?" Birch asked, considering the UNSC needed to know more than the SGC group.

"Yes I do," Grieving Light replied, projecting a hologram from 'her' eye, showing a large triangle shaped ship.

Scale was impossible to determine from the image, but the ship did look large compared to the structures surrounding it. It also looked rather…plain. There were no obvious weapon mounts, and even the engine was hard to see. But perhaps looks could be deceiving.

"What is that?" Daniel asked curiously.

"A Keyship left here by the Librarian," the Monitor explained, "each of the Rings served a purpose beyond their use as a weapon. Installations 04 and 05 contain Flood research facilities, Installation 03 contains the Composer, and my own Installation 02 contains some of the last remaining shipyards, with this one ship docked here. It is fortunate you found my Installation first Reclaimers, as the other Monitors are programed differently."

"Different programing?"

The Monitor 'nodded', "Indeed. The Monitors of Installation 04 and 05, for instance, know nothing about the other Installations apart from the Monitors and which one is assigned to their own Ring. They do not know the location of the other Rings, or how they function. This is a security precaution to keep the Flood from learning too much about our fallback bases. But, with the fact my Installation lacks Flood Research Facilities, it was deemed safe for me to know more."

"I would guess that is to help us with our 'Legacy' right?" Daniel asked.

"Correct Reclaimer."

Daniel nodded, and was about to turn back to Cam, when something popped into his mind. He had been working on translating that crystal when they had left, but he hadn't been able to finish. That being said…if it was from a pre-Covenant race…and the Forerunner's would have known all of those…

"Kalymiya? Can you show the Monitor that artifact we found on Sigma Octanus?"

_"Of course Dr. Jackson."_

The pad that the Monitor had been using changed to show an image of the Sigma Octanus artifact, which the machine looked at curiously.

"Hmm…this is a star map. I am surprised it survived for so long," Grieving Light informed the group, "one of the coordinates is to Installation 04, while I do not recognize the other."

"A star map? Hmm?" Birch muttered.

"Can you help me translate what is left?" Daniel asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Certainly Reclaimer. Come with me, and I can teach you the language of the Forerunner."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Cam protested, "are we forgetting that the Covenant got this stone? And that means they know where that other Ring is!"

_That _brought the group up short. And raised a bit of a problem...they would _have_ to get to that other Ring. If the Covenant could figure out how to use it...or even worse...if they _couldn't_ but still managed to light it off.

It seemed like Grieving Light realized that too, "That is not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. We will need to make sure that Guilty Spark knows and is able to prepare. Follow me Reclaimers, we need to reach the communication center!"

* * *

**AN: And now we are seeing the butterfly effect. The hyperdrive and _Odyssey_ allowed them to find a different Ring. One without Flood, and with a (so far) non-insane Monitor. Now, that probably needs some explanation even with what I put in the chapter.**

**When one looks at the Halo Array, we only have three confirmed Rings so far. Installation 04 and 05 both had Flood Research facilities, but were otherwise just standard (if you can call a giant death machine 'standard') Installations. Installation 03 had the Composer, and hasn't been confirmed or denied as far as the Flood go. So, I made a bit of a logical leap and assumed that the Rings could serve their own purpose aside from the aforementioned 'giant death machine' bit. They are only getting the one Keyship though. I am trying _very_ hard to avoid a curbstomp after all.**

**And since I had another line about the Forerunner tech level (specifically this: ****"It is advanced, highly advanced, but it is not the same as Forerunner technology."), I will clear that up. I am _not_ saying anything about how Asgard tech compares to Foreunner tech in advancement and power and such. All the Monitor is saying is that it 'isn't the same' which is the truth.**

**And on the Monitor...I don't see a reason we couldn't have a 'female' Monitor, so I decided I would make this one 'female'. And a bit different from Spark. Which isn't that unbelievable. We only have three Monitors to go off right now in canon. Crazy and overly cheerful Spark, crazy and Flood corrupted Penitent Tangent, and rather morose Abject Testament. So, I made a bit of a leap with Grieving Light. I hope everyone likes it.**

**And after all that...I hope to have the next part of the Battle of Reach up sometime soon. It shouldn't take as long (hopefully) since I am better at battles. See you all then!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Took a bit longer than expected, and this chapter is shorter than I wanted. But in here we move back to the battle of Reach. And finish the space portion at least. I'm not quite satisfied with it, but I hope everyone still enjoys it.**

**As for the Codex, I decided that (to avoid breaking any rules by accident) I will _work_ on it, but only PM those who are interested. And at least I'm doing that instead of just saying 'I'm right, you're wrong' right? :P**

**In any case, on to the chapter.**

* * *

**9th Age of Reclamation, _Ascendant Justice _\ **

**Fleet of Particular Justice, Human World**

Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee watched dispassionately as the _Unwavering Promise_ was destroyed by a human warship. The vessel had performed some form of jump to get behind the modified cruiser, and its Shipmaster had not reacted fast enough to destroy the human ship. While the destruction of the limited-production ship was indeed a harsh blow, it was what destroyed it that gained the Supreme Commander's attention, not the destruction of the ship.

_That was not slipspace. And that was not typical human weaponry. Where have they been hiding this technology?_

As 'Vadamee continued to marshal his battered fleet, the _Long Night of Solace_ dropped into formation with the last ships in the Fleet of Particular Justice. The Supercarrier dwarfed even the large _Ascendant Justice_, and it didn't help that it moved as close as possible to the smaller Assault Carrier. As soon as the ships had managed to form something resembling a stable formation, a message came over from the larger vessel.

_"Supreme Commander, I am disappointed,_" the distinct voice of a San 'Shyuum said, _"the vermin should not have been able to harm this mighty fleet._"

Inwardly Thel bristled at the implications of that statement, and the blow to his honor. Outwardly, he maintained the calm serenity of a Supreme Commander addressing his superior, as he answered the silent question he knew was in the San 'Shyuum's words.

"I apologize Prophet," the Sangheili said, "the humans have upgraded their weaponry and seem to posses shielding systems."

_"Primitive weapons and shields,"_ the Prophet scoffed, _"after all, the Forerunners left their technology to us and the Great Journey. Anything the vermin can develop is of little consequence."_

"Of course," Thel 'agreed', "the fleet was preparing to crush what was left of the human resistance."

Even if he couldn't see it, Thel imagined the San 'Shyuum nodding at that.

_"As they should. The _Long Night of Solace_ will lead the attack. I will deal with these vermin personally."_

"And we shall follow Prophet."

With that said, the battered (but still deadly) Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice began to once again approach Reach. This time, they were careful to keep watch for human nuclear mines. Easily the most dangerous weapon in the vermin's arsenal, the Covenant were not about to be caught by them again. As the Covenant fleet moved forward, the massive launch bays on _Long Night of Solace_ began to launch swarm after swarm of Seraph Fighters and Space Banshees. The small crafter were joined by ones launched from the _Ascendant Justice_ and other smaller carriers, forming a vanguard with a dual purpose…swarm the human ships, and root out any mines.

As the fighters swarmed forward, human fighter craft moved forward to try and counter the Covenant fighters. There was the expected 'Longsword' fighters, dwarfing anything that the Covenant sent forward. But there was a new fighter mixed into the standard human formations. Smaller and nimbler, when the two forces smashed into each other, these new fighters proved to be far more maneuverable than the Seraph fighters, and a near match for the Banshees. Add in the fact they had rudimentary shielding systems…it was another unpleasant surprise on top of all the other ones over this forsaken world.

Naturally, the surprise was far worse for the Sangheili and Jiralhanae actually _flying_ the fighter craft. They were the first to discover the new human fighters, and were paying for the surprise with their lives. And in numbers that should have been unacceptable by any reasonable measure.

"We are losing fighters at a faster rate than we can replenish them Supreme Commander," one of the Sangheili managing the bridge informed Thel, "the new human craft are more effective than anticipated."

"Send in the reserves, and increase to flank speed," Thel ordered, knowing he still had _tactical_ command of the fleet, to a certain extent, "charge energy projector, and fire on one of the human stations."

"As you command!"

As the remaining fighters in the Covenant armada moved forward to reinforce their brethren in the fight with the surprisingly effective human craft, a beam started to glow on the _Ascendant Justice's_ bow. As the light grew brighter and brighter, the ship pulled 'up' relative to the human fleet, allowing its bow mounted Energy Projector a clear shot at the human platforms. When the ship had finished its maneuver, a beam of white light shot out at one of the platforms, bypassing the defenses that the humans had tried to form around it, and impacting on its golden shield grid that had stopped so many plasma torpedoes.

The infernal shield held at first, light glowing from where the beam had hit, the shield _glowing_ where it was trying to deflect or absorb the energy from the most powerful weapon in the Covenant arsenal. And at first, it looked like it just might succeed, taunting the Sangheili crew of the _Ascendant Justice_. But…with a final burst of energy, the Energy Projector beam carved through the shield, and sliced the massive barrel of the human station in half, secondary explosions quickly engulfing what was left.

Among the lower races in the Covenant ships, there was some minor cheering at that, showing that the new human shields and stations were _not_ invulnerable. The more professional and reserved Sangheili sufficed with silent pleasure at the restoration of their honor, and the fact that they _could_ destroy the human stations, provided a ship got close enough, and had an Energy Projector.

It also seemed to dawn on the humans that they couldn't let Assault or Supercarriers anywhere near the stations. As evidenced by the remaining stations orienting their weapons on the _Ascendant Justice_ and _Long Night of Solace_. Thankfully for the Covenant, Thel was far from an idiot.

"Move back into the Fleet. Do not let those weapons fire on us."

While the _Ascendant Justice_ moved back, its (far) larger counterpart didn't deviate from its course. Part of it was the San 'Shyuum commanders arrogance, part of it was the shear _bulk_ of the Supercarrier. It would never be a particularly agile ship, and having smaller ships crash against its shields would not be a good thing. All that did was leave it open to attack, something the humans were not going to let go.

_Fool! Humans, whatever else they are, are not _blind_ they will not leave the Long Night of Solace alone!_ 'Vadamee thought, letting a bit of frustration go through his normally calm and collected mind, though he was well aware that there was little to be done.

"The human platforms are targeting the _Long Night of Solace_," a Minor reported.

_"Unending Redemption and Silence of the Forerunners are to move in position to intercept the human fire_," the Prophet in command of the Supercarrier ordered.

And showing the loyalty that their race had, the Sangheili commanders of the two CCS-class battlecruisers moved their craft into a position where the human shells would hit _them_ instead of the Supercarrier. They knew their shields would be little impediment, after what had happened to their sister the _Truth and Reconciliation_. But they were loyal, and wouldn't let any thoughts of disobedience enter their minds.

And it wasn't a moment too soon either, as the human platforms fired another volley. Most of the shells found smaller targets amongst the Covenant fleet, but several were fired at the largest target, the _Long Night of Solace_. The two sacrificial cruisers fired their plasma torpedoes, vaporizing a handful of the shells, and took two more head on, crumpling like tin cans, before their reactors went up in a massive explosion, flinging debris into the shield of the ship they were protecting. But they had served their purpose…while the shells still continued on to hit the Supercarrier; they lacked the power to penetrate the shield, and ricocheted off into deep space.

Much like the last engagement, the Covenant fleet returned fire, plasma and Energy Projector fire opening up on the human fleet, which started to wildly dodge to avoid the incoming fire. Those targeted by the Energy Projectors weren't able to dodge the fast-firing beams, and it didn't matter if they had shields or not…the energy beams carved through regardless of defenses.

The Plasma fire was easier to avoid, and avoid it several ships did. Those that didn't, either dropped out of formation on fire, or took the hits on their shields and returned fire. The shells from those ships hit their Covenant counterparts, blasting holes in shields and hull alike.

The ships continued to trade broadsides like this, neither giving an inch of ground, both trying their hardest to obliterate the other side. And both sides were bleeding the other badly, as a UNSC Destroyer and its Covenant counterpart blew up in the same instance, debris from the latter flaring against the _Ascendant Justice's_ shields.

_The humans are fighting harder than I have ever seen_, 'Vadamee thought, almost tuning out the destruction of yet another Covenant warship, _as much as it pains me to admit it, they are winning this engagement. For every vessel we destroy, they destroy two or three of our own. We cannot sustain losses like this for much longer._

Yet…while Thel 'Vadamee intellectually knew this was the case, it mattered very little in the grand scheme of things. This was _his_ Fleet, _his_ Command, _his_ battle, and, most importantly, _HIS_ responsibility. It would be so easy to blame the Prophet aboard his Supercarrier, for sending in the Fleet in separate waves. For sacrificing ships to protect his own vessel. For underestimating the humans…who despite being abominations against the Forerunners, were _never_ weak or ineffective fighters.

And despite all of that, Thel 'Vadamee, Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, knew that ultimately, everything came down to him.

However much it pained him to admit that fact.

"Bring us forward," the Sangheili ordered, "arm Energy Projector, and target another human station."

The crew didn't even question the order, despite debris from other Covenant vessels that had tried the same task bouncing off their own vessels shield. They merely went about their task with their typical efficiency, charging the Energy Projector, and once again angling the _Ascendant Justice_ to attack the human stations.

"Energy Projector is ready to fire."

Thel looked at the Major who had announced that. The red-armored Sangheili nodded his head slightly at the look from his commander. They had been serving together since Thel's earlier commands, and both of them knew what they were doing would likely end in the destruction of their ship. The Fleet was disintegrating around them, even if the humans were little better. Those platforms more than more up for that however, and as a Minor called out, were targeting the _Ascendant Justice_ even now. Nodding back at the Major, Thel turned to the view of the target again, and said one word.

"Fire."

Once again, a white lance of energy shot out from the bow of the Assault Carrier, hitting an already damaged human station. The shield on the station held for a split second, before its damaged generators overloaded, the explosions from that adding into the damage from the Energy Projector itself. Unlike the first time, this station did not explode in a massive fireball…it just disintegrated and started to fall in the human world's atmosphere.

But this time there would be no escape for the _Ascendant Justice_. This time, the human vessels focused their ire on the Covenant Flagship. This time, the opposing fleets were close enough that every weapon on the human warships was able to be used. This time…this time, Thel knew it was the end of his ship.

"Human vessels firing!"

And indeed they were, shells from the primitive cannons, golden bolts that looked like plasma weapons, missiles, everything the humans could bring to bear was fired at the _Ascendant Justice_. As the first impacts began to rock his ship, Thel said a silent prayer to the Forerunners.

_Forgive me for my failure. Forgive me for my inability to stop the humans. Forgive me for leading my fleet to their deaths._

Soon after finishing that silent prayer, a shell from one of the human cruisers impacted the _Ascendant Justice_ and punched through its failing shields. The shell heavily damaged the ship, secondary explosions followed by impacts from human missiles and plasma fire. The Assault Carrier shuddered under the repeated impacts, its armor shattering and falling away in purple chunks, the vulnerable hull underneath burning as oxygen was exposed to the fires raging on the hull. Plasma conduits ruptured, power failed throughout the ship, and its massive engines dimmed as their conduits were damaged beyond repair.

Thel heard all these reports, as his crew began to panic. He remained stoic however, standing calmly in the middle of his bridge as fires began to flare up from damaged consoles. Thel did not move, until an explosion threw him to the ground. The last thing he saw was the Major running towards him, before darkness claimed the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice.

* * *

**1442 Hours, September 16th 2552 (Military Calendar)/**

**Reach Defense Fleet, UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_**

"Assault Carrier is disabled Captain," Cortana said, "redirecting fire at a CCS-class battlecruiser."

Keyes nodded absently, letting the AI do her work. Cortana had proven to be amazingly efficient at getting the most out of the _Autumn's_ upgrades, destroying ship after ship in the Covenant fleet. As evidenced by the burning wreck that had previously been an Assault Carrier. The UNSC Fleet had stopped firing once it became apparent the ship couldn't fight back, as a prize that big was too…well…big, to give up. Turning his eyes away from the burning hulk, Keyes saw one of the Super MAC platforms get cut in two by the Supercarrier, which (as of yet) hadn't been damaged.

"We are down to twelve MAC platforms," one of the crew called out.

"Covenant Fleet formation is collapsing!" another added.

Those words were music to the ears of anyone who happened to be listening. Only twice in this Godforsaken war had the Covenant been routed. Sigma Octanus was the first, due in large part to the timely intervention of the _Odyssey_ and a healthy measure of luck. But this time, it looked like it was the UNSC alone that was winning the battle. The upgrades helped certainly, but it was UNSC ships and men dying out there and pushing the Covenant back.

And doing a damn good job of it in Keye's opinion. While there was burning UNSC ships lighting the 'sky', there were far more battered Covenant hulks. What had been three-hundred ships, was just a handful now. The only real threat now was that Supercarrier that seemed to laugh off any attempt to destroy it. And it was doing quite a bit of damage all by itself, as the burning platforms showed. Its plasma torpedoes weren't any more dangerous than the smaller ship's weaponry, but it had _seven_ of those damn sniper weapons.

And the size of that monstrosity meant that trying a hyper-jump again would probably just end up with crashing into it. So they couldn't attack it like they had attacked the Supercruiser. This left a seemingly suicidal frontal charge, as evidenced by the destruction of another UNSC Frigate, its shield doing little to impede the Supercarriers fire. It was rapidly becoming apparent that even with the upgrades taking on a Supercarrier was nearly impossible.

"It would appear that the Covenant fleet is falling back to the Supercarrier," Cortana broke into the Captain's thoughts, her small blue avatar frowning slightly.

"Indeed they are," Keyes replied, "are they retreating for real this time? Or just regrouping? That is the question here."

"I would say they are just regrouping," Cortana said, "Seems like they aren't quitting until we _make_ them quit."

"Religious zealotry at its finest," Keyes said dryly, "see if we can get a firing solution on the Supercarrier. Send any data we obtain to the rest of the fleet. A massed volley of fire just might take that monster down."

"Yes sir!"

Cortana disappeared again, dedicating her immense processing power to finding a weakness in the Supercarrier's defenses. Diagrams behind Keyes lit up with an image of the Supercarrier, bits and pieces lighting up at intervals as Cortana scanned for weaknesses, and discarded useless data. Anyone who didn't know what they were looking at would just see useless flashing lights. But there was a purpose behind the madness, and a very keen mind.

In what seemed like a lifetime to Cortana, but was only a couple minutes, the diagram stopped flashing and lit up a single red area on the Supercarrier. Focused near the bow, it was a slightly weaker area in the shield grid. And a perfect target for the fleet to fire on.

"This portion of their shield grid was damaged by Super MAC fire," the AI explained, "the sacrificial cruisers kept it from penetrating, but the force was enough to damage the generators."

Keyes nodded absently, "Send the data to the Fleet. We will concentrate fire on that spot and punch through."

"Got it," Cortana replied with a fierce grin on her face.

The data was sent through the _Autumn_'s networks, traveling faster than any human could hope to follow. When it reached its destination in the network, it was 'shot' out at the rest of the battered USNC fleet, each ships AI recognizing a priority transmission. From there, it reached the Captains and Commanders of those vessels, all of them quickly realizing what Keyes was up to. They then ordered their individual AI to prime the weapons aboard their ship and target the Supercarrier.

Dozens of target designators flared to life, the power of these devices almost blinding the sensitive sensor net on the Supercarrier. But it didn't blind the external cameras, which recorded a wall of fire, both _actual_ fire and plasma fire blasting forth from the UNSC fleet. All of these weapons were focused on that one point on the bow of the Supercarrier, hitting at almost the exact same time.

The silver shields of the Covenant warship flared brightly as they took the impacts and redirected the energy. But even the strongest shields the Covenant could produce were far from as powerful enough to take this many impacts at once. First one, then two, then a dozen MAC shells blasted through, followed by Goa'uld plasma bolts and Archer missiles. The bulbous bow of the Supercarrier was flattened by all the fire hitting it. The rest of the massive ship shuddered, before its surviving escorts moved forward to take hits for it.

Because of this, despite the grievous damage to its bow, the Supercarrier was able to restore some functionality to its shield grid. But it seemed that this ferocious barrage had finally broken the spirit of the commander of the warship. A slipspace rupture opened up in front of the ship (completely heedless of the handful of Covenant warships still _there_), and the Supercarrier lurched forth into the rupture.

With the departure of that massive warship, the Battle of Reach simmered down. At least on the space front…on the ground, the battle to save Reach was still being fought by Spartans and Marines alike…

* * *

**AN: And there was the chapter. I will say one thing that relates to the Codex though. A question has been brought up, namely that 'hot plasma hitting Covenant Shields should fry the crew/ship even if it doesn't penetrate'. While that is most likely true, it isn't shown that way in-universe. When we see Covenant ships fight each other (most prominently in _First Strike_ and _Ghosts of Onyx) _we don't see that effect. Lazy writers maybe, but it is the way it is in the canon, and I'm not going to throw that out the window.**

**And also related to the Codex...I'm _not_ using hard numbers. They are all over the place, and rarely match the visuals. So a lot of this is from observed effects, and extrapolation based on that. Some things are fudged a little for story purposes, but that's in the Codex.**

**In any case, I hope everyone liked this. I'm working on the next chapter, which will have the Ground Battle of Reach (which I suck at :P ) and more on the _Odyssey_ and Installation 02 front...speaking of which, I modified the end of that chapter somewhat.**

**See you all next time!**


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